


Dead silent

by RhoswenCartel



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Character Death, Ghosts, Psychic Abilities, Psychic!Luffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-15 09:35:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 50,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11803335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhoswenCartel/pseuds/RhoswenCartel
Summary: Luffy is a 13-year-old boy who seems ordinary, but first impressions are rarely true. He holds a secret since he is very young and was hurt when he revealed it before. Opening up to people again, to his brother, Ace, is it really what he needs to do?AU Where Luffy is a Psychic and a medium. He can see spirits and ghosts.





	1. I believe you

**Author's Note:**

> So, this story was originally posted on fanfiction.net, so there will be a lot of chapters who will be posted in one go, but I won't update regularly, only when I have inspiration for the next chapters in the future.

Luffy was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. All the other kids didn't really want to play with him, but he didn't care, he was waiting for his big brother to pick him up. Ace and Luffy lived together in a relatively big apartment in the heart of the city. Their parents would come once in a while, but they were both really busy traveling around the world for their job, so they only visited once a month or two, but they really didn't care. At least they had had each other. Luffy was thirteen and a half, and his brother Ace was nineteen.

One kid sat on his left. She was pretty pale and had was wearing only white. In a way, it made her look pretty elegant. She sat too and smiled at the raven-haired boy.

"How are you today Luffy?"

I am fine and you?" The girl sighed but didn't lose her smile.

"I am okay, but I miss Usopp." Luffy looked down at his feet.

"It's okay, I told you I would find him, right?" The girl nodded and became serious.

"Did you make some progress on finding him?" Luffy nodded.

"I know his father's name is Yasopp, apparently, Shanks knows them. He told me they were on a trip and wouldn't be back before the end of the week." The girl smiled.

"Thank you. I can't wait to see him again." Luffy smiled.

"No problem Kaya." Luffy looked up at the other kids in the room as he felt their disgust and judging glare on him. He sighed. "You should stop talking to me in school or people will think you are weird too." Kaya frowned.

"Why do they think you are weird?" Kaya said nervously.

"I don't really know." Luffy sighed and Kaya smiled and left. A few minutes later, Ace arrived. He went to his instructor, Miss Makino.

"Monkey D. Luffy, your big brother is here to get you!" Luffy sat up and jumped in his brother's arm. The other smiled and thanked Makino before walking out to the little boy's locker to get his bag. It was a yellow and red bag with pirates on it, Luffy loved pirates. Ace took Luffy's lunchbox and the two were on their way.

"What did you do today?" Luffy perked up at the question, started explaining his whole day to Ace while the older boy listened with a grin.

"Well, today we did some math problems, we had to do it really well since the five people who finished it first with all the good answers could have a candy. It was fifty multiplications and divisions. Hey, Ace, I finished fast and won a candy! I was the second one to finish after Nami. Zoro slept the whole time and got scolded, it was funny!"

Ace smiled. "Why don't you try to make friends with them?" Luffy scratched the back of his head.

"Well, Zoro doesn't talk to anyone except Sanji, but they fight a lot even if they are best friends. Nami is fun, but she won't talk to me since I am not really popular."

"Well, you should try and talk to them, maybe you are going to become inseparable." Ace said with a smile.

"I talked to Professor Shanks, doesn't it count?" Ace shook his head.

"No, you need to make friends of your own age, Professor Franky, Miss Makino, Professor Shanks or Miss Robin don't count. I told you, you need to make at least one friend your age."

"Oh... But I talked with Kaya too, she is my age and since we are trying to find Usopp, who is also my age, that makes two people. I am a bit closer to finding Usopp now!" Ace flinched and started looking uncomfortable.

"Luffy... You didn't meet Usopp yet. I don't know if he is even real. Isn't it time for you to make real friends?" Luffy frowned.

"Kaya is really nice! She is the only one who would talk to me at school!" Ace bit his lips.

"I know it must be fun having your imaginary friend, you play with them and they never argue, they like you no matter what, but Kaya isn't real, you should make real friends."

Luffy's frown deepened. "Kaya isn't imaginary." Ace sighed.

"There is no Kaya in your class, not even in the entire school Luffy, don't play dumb. I checked last time."

Luffy took a neutral expression. Ace shivered, his little brother could be serious sometimes, and it scared him when he did. The boy was rarely that serious, and he knew whatever he said in those times was the absolute truth. They both stopped walking on the sidewalk as Luffy looked up to his brother.

"Of course you won't find her name anywhere, she is dead." Ace froze. He turned to Luffy and took his hand silently. before walking at a fast pace to their house.

He closed the door of their apartment and took Luffy to his room, making him sit on the bed. "Repeat what you said."

"Kaya is dead." Ace gripped his hair with one hand. He had started to sweat. This wasn't good. This wasn't possible.

"It's okay if you don't believe me." Ace didn't respond at first. He seemed lost in thoughts. The younger boy started to get nervous. What if Ace didn't believe him? Would he leave?

Ace smiled sheepishly. "It's okay, I believe you."

"You always say stuff like that. You always reassure me, say you believe me, but do you really?" Luffy looked up to his brother with eyes full of hope. He had never talked to Ace about the ghosts before today. He had always feared Ace would reject him because of it. But, the older raven looked at him with a smile.

"I already told you. I believe you."


	2. Spirit of a familiar blond

_"Papa..."_

_"Luffy, go back to sleep."_

_But Papa, there's something in my closet."_

_Dragon sighed. "Ace."_

_Ace looked up from his homework to look at Dragon who was on the sofa, reading a book with his reading glasses on. The man didn't bother to look up. "Yes, sir?"_

_"Go put your brother to sleep. It's an order." Ace stood and took the four-year-old in his arm before going upstairs to Luffy's room. The little boy gripped his big brother's shirt tightly, he was trembling a little._

_When they entered, Ace shivered but shrugged. Luffy's water was spilled on the floor. "Did you do that? I'll have to clean it up." He sat the boy on the bed and went to the bathroom to get a towel, but the younger boy followed him and latched himself to the oldest's shirt._

_Ace giggled. "It's okay, I was just in the room right next to you, you shouldn't worry like that!" He took the towel and put on his shoulder. Luffy lifted his arms in the air, gesturing him to pick him up. Ace smiled and took his brother in his arms._

_"Don't worry, big brother Ace is going to take care of the closet monster." He went back in the room with Luffy curled up in his arms. The moment he set the boy down, Luffy started trembling again. Ace cleaned the water that had been accidentally spilled and went to the closet. Luffy immediately took cover under his big blanket and Ace chuckled softly at the sight._

_He opened the closet to see nothing in it and closed it back. "See, there's nothing there." He turned around to look at Luffy, but the boy was horror struck as he had seen a man who seemed to have hanged himself in the closet. He started crying in his sheets._

_Ace rushed to his side and pulled him into a hug. "Shhh... It's okay... There's nothing there. I'll put a chair in front of it okay? Just to be sure. It will be locked inside." Luffy nodded, his face still hidden in his brother's shoulder._

_"Shhhh... It's okay." Ace put Luffy back under the covers and put a chair in front of the closet door in a way that you couldn't open it from inside the closet. Luffy gave him small smile before falling asleep._

_Ace sighed a he got down the stairs._

_"Portgas. Go wash the dishes. It's been on the table since dinner-time."_

_"Yes, sir."_

_"I will be leaving early tomorrow, you will take Luffy to his kindergarten before heading to school. Is that clear?"_

_"Yes, sir." Ace then walked to the table and started doing the dishes as he was asked._

* * *

 

"You should have told me sooner." Ace said as cursed himself inwardly. Luffy sighed. "I didn't know you would believe me so easily, if I tell other people, they think I'm nuts or they leave."

"Well, they don't know you. I do and I would never leave." Ace took his brother into a hug like he used to do to calm him down when the youngest was scared. Thinking back, Luffy had often been really scared for no apparent reason. Sometimes, they were walking down the street and Luffy would just yelp in surprise and hide behind Ace. He had never really understood why until today.

"Do you see them often? Do they talk to you?" Luffy nodded.

"Some ghosts just stay around a person place. Some are just really angry. Some just wander around like they are searching for something. Some are nice, but not all of them." Luffy said softly as he gripped the fabric of Ace's shirt tighter.

"Alright. We will speak about that again after dinner. I need to go to the kitchen. Come and find me if you need any help in your homework." Luffy nodded and let go of the shirt as Ace left the room, giving him one last smile and shut the door. Luffy went to sit at his desk and took his math homework out to start.

"You shouldn't ask Ace's help for your homework, you should ask me, Ace is a complete idiot." Luffy turned to his right only to see a blond sitting at his window's side with a large grin. He wore a blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up, a cravat and a pair of light blue cyan shorts held up by a belt with an elaborate flower-design buckle. The boy looked a bit older than him, around fifteen or sixteen maybe. He seemed to have suffered a few injuries, he had a burn mark over his left eye that seemed healed mostly, a cut on his lip, but the one that was the most visible was the stab wound in his lower abdomen which covered in blood that part of his white dress shirt. Luffy smiled at the boy, completely used to his peculiar look as he had seen it multiple times when the blond spirit came over.

Luffy giggled. "He is not an idiot! You shouldn't talk like that about my brother, he is the only one who will believe me!" He said in an annoyed tone.

The blond shrugged. "That doesn't change the fact that he is an idiot." Luffy chuckled and went back to his homework.

"You know Ace is really cool, he worries all the time, but he is still better than everyone at everything. He has always been there for me."

"Do you say that to him? Does he know you think like that?" The blond asked as he sat on Luffy's bed.

"Probably, Ace knows everything! He told me that once. Well, he was exaggerating, but he knows a lot!" The blond rolled his eyes.

They went back to the youngest's work and finished. Ace came back in the room. He shivered a bit as he did, but not enough to disturb him. "Luffy, dinner is ready!" The boy perked up with a smile and waved to the blond before running down the stairs. The blond sighed with a smile before disappearing out of thin air.

Ace looked at his little brother in contemplation and worry. If you had asked Ace twelve years ago if he wanted to be able to see the dead, he would probably have said yes. When Ace was seven, his father died. His mother had died giving birth to him. Since Roger had succumbed to his illness, Ace had lived with the Monkey family, Dragon being his godfather. Sure, he enjoyed his stay with them, but Dragon could be harsh, not that he would complain. About four years ago, he and Luffy's mother had started traveling a lot for work and their grandfather visited a lot at first when Ace was still a minor until Ace turned eighteen and could take care of Luffy on his own. Still, Dragon and Garp sent more than enough money for them to be comfortable and it seemed to satisfy both raven-haired boys.

Some people were in worst conditions. A lot of them.

"So... You spoke about a girl named Kaya today, who is- I mean, who was she?" Luffy started playing with his food nervously. It was weird, nobody ever asked him questions about the spirits and ghosts he would encounter. His brother had always been there to protect him against the scary ones though, even if he didn't know.

"She was in my class, at my school. She was close to a boy named Usopp, I think they were neighbors, but she died of an illness about two months ago. I was told Usopp and his father went traveling after that since he was shaken by it. I never met Usopp since he doesn't come to my school, but Kaya is always talking about him. He seems nice." Luffy said as his eyes returned to his plate.

"Why is she still here?" Luffy frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean isn't there 'another side'? Like, somewhere they go to rest in peace?" Luffy's eyes narrowed a bit as he looked at his brother.

"I- I mean, in the movies and books, when a spirit is still on earth, it's because it can't go rest because something is holding them back." Luffy dropped his glare.

"Well, you are right about that, they all have something that keeps them here. Kaya had something she had to say to Usopp. She didn't tell me yet though."

"S-So... You want to help the spirits cross to the other side?" Ace stammered a bit as he spoke and Luffy nodded.

Ace sighed. Obviously, the oldest brother wasn't scared. He had never been scared of anything paranormal. He was mostly worried. His eyes were filled with that particular emotion as he gazed at the youngest, which didn't go unnoticed by the youngest and the blond who had decided to sit on the counter.

"Your brother worries a lot." The blond said in a soft tone. Luffy nodded again.

"Ace. Why are you so worried, nothing bad is going to happen to me." Ace tensed. He was about to think back to a night a few years ago but pulled himself out of those thoughts as he straightened up to look at his brother.

"Of course I am going to worry! Luffy, this is something you kept for yourself so long... I should've noticed something like that was bothering you." The blond on the counter started to laugh.

"Seriously! He is worst than ever! Ace suffers from a major brother-complex." Luffy rolled his eyes.

"Well, at least you are having fun..." Luffy grumbled.

"What?" Ace asked as he couldn't understand how Luffy thought he was having fun.

"Nothing. Hey, Ace, what's a brother-complex?" The blond burst-out laughing as Ace frowned.

"Where did that come from?" Luffy started giggling too, it was funny to see Ace completely oblivious to the blond who was grinning wildly, sitting on the counter behind his big brother.

Soon, Ace abandoned the idea of ever understanding anything. He took the plates to the sink and started washing dishes. Luffy went to sit on the counter right beside the blond and they both snickered.

"Come on Ace, come play with me!" Luffy said as he squirmed a bit making the latter sigh and the blond jump off the counter to take a good look at the eldest in the room.

"You know, Ace changed a lot." Luffy frowned and looked at the blond with a questioned look.

"Since when?" Ace turned around.

"Are you asking me a question?" Ace said as he looked at his little brother, but his gaze wasn't even on Ace.

"No, not talking to you, you can resume your boring activity." Luffy snickered.

"I mean, he changed a lot since when we used to hang out." Luffy jumped off the counter in surprise.

"What?!" Luffy's sudden shout made Ace drop the plate in his hands.

"Luffy, get out of the kitchen!" Ace said almost harshly as he started picking up the shattered pieces.

"Well, back before that," The blond pointed to his stab wound. "Ace and I were best friends!" Luffy's eyes widened.

"GOSH! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT BEFORE!" The blond scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, I told you now." Luffy's eyes suddenly widened.

"Hey... You never told me your name! Say it now!" The blond chuckled.

"This isn't a really polite way to ask for someone's name..."

"Okay, say it now please!" The blond sighed. No way he was going to be able to teach the boy some manners anytime soon.

"My name is Sabo," Luffy smirked and ran back to the kitchen as Sabo's eyes widened and followed behind him.

"Hey, Ace." The older brother turned around as he put the broken plates in the garbage and took a glass from the sink.

"Do you know Sabo?" Ace froze. He set the glass back in the sink before he started staring at Luffy. The blond entered the room at that moment, sending a shiver through both brother's spine.

"You can see Sabo?"


	3. We all doubt

"You can see Sabo?" Ace asked nervously. His brother nodded, throwing quick glances to the blond at his side, who sighed.

"Well, yeah. He has been haunting me for a few years, now I just know he was haunting you." Sabo turned to Luffy with an offended expression.

"HEY! I wasn't haunting you, that is really rude!" Luffy turned to face him.

"Okay, then if you aren't haunting Ace, what are you doing."

"... Maybe... Watching over him?" Sabo said as he passed a hand through his blond locks.

Ace was still frozen in place as he stared at Luffy. This was too much. Luffy being a medium was one thing. Sabo... Sabo was dead. Sabo should have crossed. He should have. He had nothing to do still on Earth, he would be better off where ever 'the other side' was. Not stuck in an apartment with two arguing brothers.

He fell to the floor as he fainted Luffy barely managed to catch him before he hit his head.

"That is exactly why I didn't want you saying that to him," Sabo said as he looked sadly at the two brothers.

"Well, how was I suppose to know he would faint?" Luffy asked as he dragged his big brother, with difficulty, to the sofa. Sabo sat on the sofa next to the unconscious raven and Luffy sat on the floor.

"I thought he would be happy to know you were there."

Sabo closed his blue jacket over his white shirt in an attempt to hide his stab wound, but it didn't really work well. "I think I know why and it's my fault. He's probably upset right now I didn't cross to the other side."

"But... How do you... How does he know of all this?" Luffy asked.

"That's... Something you should learn from him. It involves me, but Ace is the one who will be the most affected by this. I am already dead after all." Sabo said with a fake smile and hurt staining his voice.

_"Ace... I don't want to die... I'm scared."_

Sabo looked over at Luffy's sad expression. "I just wanted to make him happy..."

Sabo approached him and sat on the floor to his side. "It's okay, he was just tired."

"Yeah-" Luffy looked to his side where Sabo was sitting a few seconds before. The blond had simply vanished.

"Dammit Sabo! You always leave like that in the middle of a conversation! You are so annoying!"

"So, Blondie didn't change at all huh?" Ace chose this moment to wake up. Luffy's eyes widened.

"Sabo could disappear when he was alive too?" Ace chuckled.

"No, he was annoying, just like you said." Luffy smiled and went to sit up next to Ace on the sofa and his brother pulled him closer.

Luffy looked up to him. "I just don't want the whole thing that happened with Sabo to repeat itself." Luffy nodded.

"Don't worry. I am fine." Ace sighed. "Since when did I ever stop worrying about you? You are a trouble magnet!" Luffy giggled. Ace followed. Soon, they were both laughing until Ace checked his watch and decided it was time for them to go to bed, they had to wake up early to go to school and college in the morning.

When they woke up the next morning, Luffy was in a slightly better mood than usual. Sabo was wandering aimlessly around the house, mostly following Ace and sometimes Luffy around as he was bored. Ace was preparing everything for Luffy's day at school and his own busy schedule.

"Can you walk home today Luffy? I have work until pretty late tonight, I won't be back before around 7:30."

"Okay," Luffy answered without too much enthusiasm.

"Hey, could you try to talk to other kids today? It would be good for you." Luffy nodded and straightened up his polo shirt while Ace adjusted his tie.

"Don't tell them about ghosts, though, that could spook them away." Sabo stuck his tongue at the eldest, making Luffy laugh.

"Okay. I'll make sure of that."

"Oh and... Sabo... If you are here right now... Keep an eye on Luffy." Ace cringed as he spoke those words. He still had trouble with the situation, but there were no doubts Luffy wasn't lying, that he knew for sure. The blond smiled. "Always."

"Sabo said he would. Now let's go!" Luffy said as he was almost happy to go to school today. It wasn't often he felt like that, but today he felt confident and wanted to make new friends.

The two brothers jumped in the car and Sabo followed as Ace instructed.

* * *

 

_Ace picked up his phone. Luffy was sitting on the sofa with a blanket on. He looked at Ace's expression change from joyful to dread in a few second._

_"What the hell did you think you were doing?! That's dangerous! Hell, I am coming right away!" Luffy followed Ace's movement with his eyes. He was very frantic and seemed almost scared._

_No, that wasn't it, Ace was never scared._

_The 15-year-old freckled teen rushed to the bathroom and exited the house with a first-aid kit._

_A few weeks later, a blond started to haunt the apartment and Ace had never seemed more depressed._

* * *

Sabo didn't get out of the apartment often, and when he did, he usually followed Ace around. It's not like he couldn't, he wasn't poltergeist, only those were trapped in one place since they were too angry and dangerous to do so, but he didn't like the feeling that was creeping inside his stomach when he would be around people, try to talk to them, but no one responded. It made the blond feel so empty. He didn't talk to other spirits too much for, well, other personal reasons.

But when Ace had asked, he had felt so happy. In the last four years, he had been haunting- watching over the idiot, he had never hoped for the man to respond or to acknowledge his presence. Of course, he was also happy to have the youngest to talk to and had started becoming very fond of Luffy too as he started watching over him too, but Ace was his best friend.

Actually, he didn't really have to get in the car to follow them, but it was fun to listen to the two brother's interaction. He was just sad he couldn't be part of it. Sabo followed Luffy as he entered his school. He was surprised to see a few spirits wandering around, some following certain kids just wandering around the school grounds. Luffy entered his classroom, followed shortly by the blond, and walked to a green-haired boy who was currently sleeping on his desk.

"Hey! What are you doing Zoro?" Luffy said as he sat in the chair just in front of the other boy's desk. Sabo lazily installed himself on Luffy's, sitting on it and swinging his legs since he had nothing better to do. Talking to Luffy now was out of the question since Ace wanted his little brother to make some friends. He sighed.

"I was sleeping until you woke me up," Zoro answered as he looked up at him with a glare. A dark blue-haired girl walked up to them in curiosity. Luffy seemed to notice and locked his gaze on her features. She seemed healthy, didn't have any visible injuries, but somehow, she was dead. She stopped in her track. The boy in front of Zoro was smiling at her and the blond with a stab wound looked really bored. She turned to the blond.

"Can he see me?" Luffy side-glanced at the two ghosts but quickly returned to trying and making friends with the green-haired sleepy head. They had started chatting and he wouldn't interrupt Sabo in a conversation, he was the only one Sabo had talked to in far too long.

"Aren't you talking with your friend Sanji? Where is he by the way?" The raven-haired teen felt a bit nervous. He hadn't talked to many people aside from spirits or his brother recently.

"Swirly-Brow? He's probably just being stupid around a girl again. Kind of annoying." As if on cue, the latter entered the room while talking with an orange-haired girl named Nami and a light blue haired girl named Vivi. They were both pretty and people seemed to appreciate them a lot for some reason Luffy didn't understand, but really wanted to know.

Zoro looked at Luffy thoroughly. He didn't really know him, nobody really did. The kid was a loner and at first, he thought he would seem more depressed for that fact, but Luffy looked like the most energetic, cheerful boy he had met.

"Hey, aren't you the guy with an imaginary friend or something?" Luffy blinked and started to chuckle.

"That would be stupid, I am thirteen, not seven you know? I... I just think out loud sometimes when I am tired... Yeah." Luffy started spouting, searching for a good explanation for his seemingly weird quirks. Zoro shrugged and sat up.

"Hey, you know the math homework we had to do? I didn't really get question 5, can you help me?" Luffy smiled.

"Of course!" Luffy went to his bag and got his homework out. He had understood everything well the day before, but only because Sabo had explained everything. It wasn't uncommon for the blond to help him do his homework and help him study actually, he had done so for a long time. Luffy's grades had improved a lot because of it too.

* * *

A few desks away, the bloodied teen and the blue haired spirit had started talking.

"Hey, what's your name?" The blond asked.

"Kuina, yours?"

"Sabo. Why are you here? Are you haunting the school? Did you die here?" Sabo asked, rather bluntly. He didn't really like beating around the bush since he had hanged around Luffy and Ace for so long, he may have had picked up on their unrequired bluntness.

"No... I am not haunting the school, that is kind of offensive, I am... watching over the moss-head over there. Without me, he would be lost all the time, quite literally." Kuina glanced at the two living teens before smiling back at the blond.

"What are you doing? I have never seen you at this school before! And also... What's up with the raven? He feels... Different. I never paid much attention to him before but now..." Sabo sighed a bit but didn't lose his smile.

"Luffy's a medium, he can see ghosts and everything." The blond narrowed his eyes and muttered something else. When the blue-haired girl asked, he didn't really respond and they continued their conversation.

"How is it possible? I never met a medium before! I thought those you see on T.V. were fake!" She said in realization.

"Most of them are, I think only one or two are real, though." Sabo looked down at his stab wound. He probably looked pretty bad if he really thought about it. Kuina looked like she still was alive and breathing.

"How did you die? I mean, you look pretty good for a spirit. Most of the ones I have seen have half of their brain blown away, a critical wound or look really ill, exactly like they did when they died... You-"

"I won't say. it's kind of embarrassing if you ask me. You look like hell and you are only fifteen!" Sabo closed his jacket over his wound. He didn't really like talking about his life much. Even less with other spirits. Most of them, when you talked to them, made you feel like it was a competition on who had the best life or who died the most heroicly.

"Well. Life is hard. I got over it and now I watch over two loud brothers. I still enjoy my time, though." Sabo smiled.

"It's not like we have anything else to do... But as you said, it is enjoyable. Hey, but you can talk to them! At least that sounds better than nothing!"Kuina said as she looked over to Luffy in wonder. Making any sort of contact with Zoro was something she had wished for. Yes, she could influence his thoughts, a bit like subliminal messages to help him not get lost or get him lost on purpose (depending on her mood), but actually talking to him would be so much better.

* * *

By the time it was lunch, Zoro had warmed up to Luffy and they, alongside Sanji and the two girls he was talking when he entered the class, ate together in the cafeteria. Kuina and Sabo were still chatting like they had done all morning, which had been really distracting for Luffy as he was the only one who could hear the two of them.

"So, Luffy, you said you have a brother? What's his name?" Nami asked as she turned to him. They all felt a bit awkward at first, but Luffy was the kind of person who could never really feel discomfort, especially with everything he saw every day.

"His name is Ace. He is really cool! He is always there when I need him and never gets scared." He said cheerfully as he started eating the content of his lunchbox.

"Why don't you speak more with other people at school, I haven't seen you hang out with anyone before." Luffy scratched the back of his head at Vivi's question.

"I don't know, just... didn't feel like it... Hey, are you going to eat that?" The young teen was really lively today as he started to open up a bit to his newly made friends. They talked about several trivial things, hobbies, favorite sport, favorite movie. Nothing of importance, just the usual. As the day went by, they had all seemed to accept Luffy as an addition to their usually more quiet group, but it didn't matter. Luffy was joyful and fun to have around. As they went out of class for the day and said goodbye to Makino, the teacher that would usually watch over them if any of their family members were late to pick them up, Kaya, the pale spirit that Luffy had gotten to know caught up to them.

They were all standing by the gate, waiting for their parents or just waiting for the others to be picked up before walking home themselves.

"Luffy, wait!" Luffy, Kuina and Sabo's head turned sharply to the approaching girl, but only Luffy seemed to do so, staring at nothing, for the rest of his new friends.

"Are you okay Luffy?" Vivi asked concern written on her face as Luffy was still thinking of what to do.

"Don't worry, I'll talk to her, stay with your friends," Sabo said as he went to talk with the other spirit.

"Thanks, Sa- Vivi for your concern, I am fine, just thought I heard something." Luffy turned back to the small group and smiled. "I'm just... troubled since my brother won't be home for a few hours. It hardly ever happens."

"Well, you could all come at my place for dinner and study, that could be fun," Sanji suggested.

They all accepted and took their phone out to call their parents or caretakers. They all accepted except Nami's, apparently, hers was rather strict.

While she excused herself and walked to her house, the rest of the small group, followed by the two 'guardian angel' spirits, as they liked to call themselves. When Luffy had called Ace at his work, the older brother had been quite delighted Luffy had already managed to make a few friends, which only proved if Luffy had put just a little effort, he could easily make some friends.

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Vivi walked to the swirly brow's house. As they entered the house, Luffy stumbled back a bit. "Dear God..." A woman was standing in the kitchen, she was rather pale and had blood on her dress. She actually looked quite ill, but that wasn't what surprised him. The woman looked a lot like Sanji, he could only assume it was his new friend's mother. She looked surprised to see Luffy and Sabo enter, but returned to the living room, sitting on the rocking chair, making it sway slightly.

"Are you alright Luffy? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Vivi asked in concern again for her new friend. She was quite the caring type actually, always making sure everyone was okay.

"That is actually a little funny," Sabo said bluntly. Kuina rolled her eyes and the dead woman in the living room stopped rocking her chair.

"N-No, I am fine, like I told you. I just need to go to the bathroom for a second," Luffy said, staring Sabo in hope he got the message.

"The bathroom is over there... I'll go prepare dinner." Sanji said in a low tone as he made his way to the kitchen. Zoro and Vivi installed themselves in the dining room with their bags to start studying. Meanwhile, Luffy was splashing water on his face in the bathroom.

"Is it me, or is everyone I meet being haunted by a ghost?" Sabo sighed.

"I told you before, this is offensive. If a spirit doesn't have any bad intentions, he is not haunting anyone, he is watching over someone." Luffy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah... big difference. At least none of them is being tormented by a poltergeist. That would be bad."

"Yeah. Plus, they all seem nice so stop complaining. You are still alive at least." Sabo huffed to the raven-haired teen.

"Stop with that argument. You used it too many times now. Besides, you can make new friends too, like that girl..."

"Kuina."

"Yes! This is good for you too, isn't it?" Sabo thought about it for a few seconds and nodded. It was fun to talk to new people for once.

They both exited the bathroom and came in the dining room for Luffy start studying with the other two when Sanji arrived with four plates.

"The rest of my family is out of town for the next few days, It's nice to have you three here for dinner," Sanji said with a smile. They all started to chat with smiling faces, enjoying each other's company until, one at a time, they had to leave. Sanji had gone to the bathroom for a few minutes and only Luffy was left, leaving him alone as he sat in silence with the two ghosts of the house.

"Are you Sanji's mother?" The woman turned to him with a confused expression.

"Y-yes, actually. I am Sora. You're new... Luffy is it?" She said as she glanced from Luffy to Sabo repetitively. She had already heard of mediums, but she had never actually talked to one. The one she had met in the past could only sense their presence to a minor degree and hear them if he concentrated enough.

"Yes... listen, is Sanji's family, his brothers, sisters, and his father, are they good to him?" The two spirits looked surprised at Luffy's question.

"Where did you get that idea?" Sabo asked, a little stunned.

"They aren't, are they?" Sora looked startled.

"No, they aren't. Sanji has always been a black sheep in this family... But he is a very good boy and an excellent cook." She smiled. "We can't really change the livings, can't we Sabo?" Sabo looked down with a saddened face. Him, Sora and Kuina had discussed a bit while the others were eating their dinner.

"Mrs. Sora, do you think-"

"Luffy!" Sanji entered the room suddenly. I think your brother is here!" He said as he looked through the front window.

"Oh... I will excuse myself then. Thanks for dinner." Luffy exited the house, followed by the blond ghost and Sanji immediately lost his smile as he closed the door.

"Luffy... How did you learn my mother's name? Who were you talking to?" Sanji muttered to himself as his mother looked at him wide-eyed.

* * *

 

_"-That would be bad" Sanji passed the bathroom as he heard Luffy talk to someone._

_"Stop with that argument. You used it too many times now. Besides, you can make new friends too, like that girl..." He was probably on the phone, but then, he could hear the sound of water flowing in the sink and a small splash before Luffy stopped it_

_"Yes! This is good for you too, isn't it?" Sanji frowned and returned to the kitchen._

_He ignored it for the rest of the evening until later, when he came back from the washroom himself._

_"Are you Sanji's mother?" He had been about to enter the room when he heard those words. He stopped and peeked at the living room. Luffy was alone, staring at the rocking chair that was swaying just slightly, as always. Luffy paused for a few seconds._

_"Yes... listen, is Sanji's family, his brothers, his sister, and his father, are they good to him?" Sanji froze. Where did that come from? And why did the boy even care? They had become friends only today!_

_"They aren't, are they?" Luffy paused again._

_"Mrs. Sora, do you think-" He didn't want to hear anything else. Hearing Luffy as he said his mother's name when he couldn't have known it made Sanji react instantly. Luffy wasn't normal. He couldn't think that anymore._

* * *

 

"I think I made new friends today," Luffy said really happily. Sabo smiled at Luffy. He had never seen Luffy look so excited about something like that.

"You think?" Ace asked as his little brother looked out the window.

"You can never be sure."


	4. Keeping secrets

Luffy entered the classroom with a smile. Vivi walked up to him to say hello and Sanji was staring at him for some reason. Zoro was asleep on his desk like every morning and Nami was being quiet, adjusting her long sleeve shirt as best as she could almost nervously. It could have struck Luffy as unusual if he had known the girl better, but then again, they hadn't talked much before yesterday. Girls usually didn't wear the long sleeve uniform at this time of the year, and boys usually rolled theirs. Well except for Luffy, but it wasn't important.

He sat on his chair in front of Zoro's desk and was about to start waking him up when Kuina asked him if they could talk. Luffy excused himself to the washroom and followed the blue-haired spirit in the corridor.

"What is it?" Luffy asked rather coldly to the girl.

"I can't just want to have a friendly chat?" Luffy shook his head.

"No, you seem on edge, something is bothering you and you need my help or you wouldn't bother talking to me." Kuina's eyes twitched in slight annoyance.

"You are sharper than you look."

"I get that often, now what is it?" Luffy didn't feel really patient. He didn't like being asked for help by a ghost at school anymore, it would only attract unwanted attention. He had just made new friends and didn't want to scare them away too soon. Little did he know, he did have someone eavesdropping his conversation with air at the washroom's door.

"Zoro... He is bothered a lot by his family problems. Could you just... keep an eye on him?" Luffy frowned.

"Doesn't he have you to watch over him? And Sanji? They are best friends, aren't they? Besides, what kind of family problems?" Kuina looked nervous.

"His parents are in debts, he doesn't really look like he will talk about it to anyone. His father is a drunk and he and his wife fight a lot. He doesn't get much sleep with all the shouting. I can't help him with this." Luffy nodded.

"I'll try to get him to talk to me or Sanji about it at least. But it will probably take a while, I started talking to Zoro only yesterday. Please don't talk to me in public. Not if it isn't absolutely necessary." Luffy said as he exited the washroom. Sanji had returned to the class a few moments prior already.

"So guys, what do you want to do after school today?" Luffy said as he happily skipped back to the group again.

Zoro decided to wake up at that moment with a yawn. "Don't know." Zoro huffed. Nami smirked.

"Maybe trying to stay awake?" They all chuckled, except Luffy, who only looked down.

"We could go to the park," Nami suggested. The others seemed on board with the idea. The bell rang and they all went to their seats. Sanji gave Luffy one last intrigued look before sitting down. Zoro frowned as he sat up straight. Sanji would always praise Nami or Vivi all morning for small matters and would keep his gaze fixed on them, even if he was half-asleep when it happened, the green-haired man knew his best friend. they had become very close over the years even if they argued a lot.

But he already had so much to worry about at home, couldn't school life just be a break from all the drama? Of course not.

During the whole day, Luffy listened carefully to his teachers. He didn't have yesterday's constant rambling to worry about since today, Sabo had decided to follow Ace around at his work. The whole day was normal, until after school, when they went to the park.

They were just hanging out, messing around, talk about different subjects, but then, Nojiko, Nami's older sister, ran by in a hurry. She didn't really explicitly say why, but Nami followed a bit horrified in the face. Without too many words, Luffy came up with a way to ask Kuina to go check it out without the others noticing. They continued enjoying their time when Kuina came back.

"Everything is tense, the atmosphere is strange." Luffy froze. He didn't turn to look at the dark blue haired girl and stopped paying attention to his current conversation immediately.

"What do you mean?" His friends thought he was speaking to them and continued their conversation, but he was listening to Kuina who was standing right behind him.

"Apparently, her mother disappeared after being called on duty two weeks ago and the rest of her task force at the police station is still looking for her. Nami looks like she really needs support right now." Luffy looked down in shame. He didn't know what to do about it. Helping out, he had done that in the past, but never he had done it to help someone still alive really. It was simple, but not necessarily easy, to help a spirit cross to the other side. You needed to learn what was their unfinished business, learn what still tied them to the world of the living and do something about it, depending on the situation. Still, he didn't know how to make the 'watching over' type of ghost cross to the other side, he had tried with Sabo, but the blond just didn't want to leave and, in a way, he was happy for it.

But the problems Nami are facing are real. She is alive. Helping her will be far different than helping any spirit to move on, will it be?

Luffy glanced up at his friends with a distressed look on his face. The others frowned and were about to ask him what was wrong when he sighed and put on a fake smile, reassuring Zoro and Vivi, but only adding a new event to Sanji's list of Luffy's weird moments. He had clearly seen it, the fear and helplessness on the raven-haired boy's face, he had seen that face more than once. Mostly when he looked in a mirror. It wasn't a small matter that bothered Luffy, it was something important, and God knew what it was.

"Hey what's the thing you have around your neck?" Sanji was pulled out of his thoughts at Vivi's words. It was true, Luffy had some sort of necklace, but he kept it under his shirt, never wearing it over. Luffy stepped back a bit, but Vivi was faster than him and pulled the necklace over his shirt. It was an antique silver locket. The design was simple but refined, showing what looked like a cross in the middle. When Vivi tried to open it, Luffy snatched it from her hands emotionlessly and put it back under his shirt.

It was a clear message. Don't look at things you aren't supposed to bother with.

They dropped it, but it only made the three more curious about what was inside the locket. Luffy tried to change the subject. "Nami left hurriedly, do you think something bad happened to her family?" The others seemed to agree.

"Yeah... She told me they still don't have any clues on her mother... I'll call her, we should pay a little visit, make sure she is okay." Vivi said as she took her phone.

"Her mother?" Luffy faked his cluelessness as he listened to Zoro and Sanji explain the situation. When Vivi finished her call, they started making their way to Nami's house. Her step-father had agreed for her to have friends over for a little while, but only if they left before dinner.

When they entered the house, everything was clean and strictly well ordered. Nojiko seemed to be doing her homework at the dinner table while Nami invited them in and their step-father, as they guessed he was since he was the only man present in the house, was reading a book with his glasses on his flat, large and pointy nose. He looked up from it with a severe expression before continuing his reading, completely ignoring the young guests. A dread feeling passed through The raven and the ghost who was following the group as they looked into his eyes.

"Did you have any new information on what could have happened to her?" Zoro asked. He wasn't one to pry into other people's private lives, but the situation involved one of his friends.

"No, unfortunately." Luffy stepped forward.

"What does she look like?" Nami told him to follow her upstairs. Passing in front of another room, the boy thought he heard someone crying, but dismissed it. He entered Nami's room as she showed her a photo of a strong-looking woman with long fuschia who cut them in a unique hairstyle he had seen on no one else before.

"She works in the police like M. Arlong downstairs. I am starting to think she left us... But she wouldn't do that! She is always kind, why would she leave like that?" Nami started sobbing and Luffy pulled her in a hug. She was surprised at first but started crying openly in Luffy's shoulder. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Luffy trying to replicate the soothing gestures his big brother used to do when he was sad with his eyes closed.

"I am right here... Can't you see me?" Luffy's eyes snapped open and he was met with the sight of a woman in the doorway. Not any woman, Nami's mother. She didn't look as pretty as in her pictures. Her face was a bit puffy and bluish around the eyes. She had a big bruise on the left side of her head as if it had smashed it into a concrete wall. Her arms and legs had a few bruises too, but nothing as terrifying as the state of her face.

Luffy's breath hitched at the sight. The woman looked at him in the eyes and Luffy continued comforting Nami as he looked at the spirit.

"You... Can you...?" Luffy nodded carefully as he tried to steady his breathing.

"Don't worry Nami, we will find out what happened." He said as the girl pushed away from his embrace and wiped her tears away. They came out in the hallway and Nami went to go downstairs, but Luffy told her he needed to check on something and to wait for him downstairs with the rest of the gang.

"So... You can actually see me?" Luffy turned around.

"Yes. But the others can't."

"Do you know why?" Luffy looked at the woman with a hard but compassionate gaze.

"You already know, I am sure." The woman clenched her fists as she did everything to keep herself from breaking into tears. She had known, all along. She couldn't deny it to herself anymore, but she couldn't let go, not yet. Her two daughters still needed her.

"What can I do? I can't leave yet." Luffy stepped closer with a smile.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Your not the only one who has unfinished business. I will help you move on." Maybe helping Nami wouldn't be as different from helping spirits after all...

"Thank you... Wait, how can you see-"

"Luffy! What's taking you so long!" He heard Zoro's voice from downstairs. In a flash, the boy quickly waved at the beaten up woman and went back downstairs.

"Coming!" He entered the living room where his friends were chatting. Zoro seemed really tired, Nami looked nervous and worried, Vivi looked concerned but still in a good mood and Sanji, well, he looked at him with a curious glare, like he was studying him. "Hey, what were you guys doing?"

"Well, Vivi thought it would be a good idea to have missing posters, the police is already searching, but they can't find her. Maybe someone saw her and they would call." Nami said as she showed the boy an image of the first missing poster they had made. "Sanji said he would go make more copies later since our photocopy machine is out of ink." Luffy nodded and looked up at the woman, Bellemere if he read the name on the poster, sitting on the stairs. She looked still proud and confident somehow that everything would be alright.

"Is there something I could do?" Nami looked thoughtful at this question. There wasn't a lot any of them could do except wait for some answers. She shook her head. The raven was about to suggest if they should leave, but Bellemere stood up suddenly.

"Don't leave yet!" Luffy stopped and sat back. "Every extra minute you stay here is a minute less Nami and Nojiko have to suffer!" Luffy narrowed his eyes, he had stopped listening to his friend's conversation, thinking the spirit had probably something more important to say. He still needed to understand what Nami's mother had said.

"I didn't know before, but Arlong is very abusive! He hits them and yells a lot at them!" Luffy's eyes flashed for a second. Of course, what the woman had said was unnerving, made him feel mad at the disgusting obnoxious and rotten man reading a book in the next room.

"Luffy?" Someone was trying to talk to him, but he didn't listen. Sanji inspected him, as always.

"Luffy!" He snapped his head to his friends. "What?"

"We asked you if you would like to come with us tomorrow on Friday to the cinema after school.

The young medium shook his head sheepishly. "There is something I have to do tomorrow." Kaya had been waiting for a long time and Usopp came back to town tomorrow. He wouldn't make her wait any longer, She had to move on.

"Oh... Okay then." Luffy's phone rang. He stood and excluded himself from the group a little with an apologetic smile and answered.

"Hey, Ace!" Luffy chirped happily.

"Hey, Lu! I am coming back to work and I need to talk to you at home, can you come back now? I know you are with your friends, but there is something I want to know." Ace said in a delicate manner like he was dealing with someone really sensible.

"Okay... I got it. I will be there in around 15 minutes max. See ya!" Ace said goodbye too and they hang up.

Luffy looked back at his group of friends. "Sorry, my brother called... He says it's important..."

They shrugged it off. "We get it. See you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Luffy exited the house, giving M. Arlong and Bellemere one last glance before going back to his house.

* * *

 

Ace had just finished his only lesson for the day at college. He didn't have any lessons in the afternoon, so he drove directly to his work at the Whitebeard company. He was a bit young to have a job there apparently, but he knew the boss and his son and they knew he worked well, so he was given the job earlier that year, on the condition he didn't drop from college.

Ace walked in, followed by Sabo, and stormed to Marco's office. Marco and Ace had been friends for a while, but right now he was pissed at the pineapple-head. He snapped the door open and closed it with the same amount of force before he started shouting.

"Why didn't you tell me I had a spirit haunting me 24/7?!" Ace said loudly.

"How many times do I have to say it that's offensive- Ah never mind..." Sabo said as he sat on a chair with a sigh.

Marco didn't look up from his work. He was pretty used to his friend's temper and wasn't fazed by his loud arrival. "The spirit latched onto you didn't want me to say it." He said in a bored tone. Marco was a medium, but not like Luffy, He could sense the spirits and hear them talk without too much need for concentration and was also able to detect other mediums and psychics. Tell apart their abilities.

"Why didn't he want me to know?!"

"Well, your spirit friend isn't an idiot. He knew if you had known he refused to cross to the other side and decided to stay here to watch over you, you would get mad and that is exactly what happened." Ace sighed and calmed down.

"I guess you're right..." He froze. "But... that means you knew about Luffy." Marco looked up from his work and looked at Ace directly in the eyes.

"I may have known about his ability to see ghosts and his psychic capabilities, but this was his secret to tell."

Ace's eyes widened. "He's a Psychic too? On top of all that?"

Marco's eyes narrowed in contemplation. "Well, all mediums who can actually see the ghosts have some sort of Psychic abilities. Some even have more than one. If you don't know about it, he probably doesn't know himself."

"So you say those who sense don't have any other 'powers' but those who see are always psychics too?" Marco nodded.

"I am still not sure how or why, but yes. Basically, that's it." Ace exited the room with a thoughtful expression. He walked to where he would work and did what he usually did with only half of his usual attention. He was simply absorbed by his thoughts, but more specifically, he was wondering what kind of ability Luffy had. The whole afternoon he wondered until his wonder turned into worry. Like always.

What if Luffy had an ability that could hurt him? What if he already knew what it was and didn't want to tell him? In the meantime, while Ace was freaking out, Sabo was bored out of his mind. Following Ace to his work wasn't really entertaining. Yes, it was funny to see Ace make a big fuss out of everything, but it got old pretty fast. At least, with Luffy at his school, he could talk to Kuina or any other spirit they encountered. There wasn't any at the Whitebeard company. Marco had probably helped every one of them cross since he seemed like the kind of guy who would. Also, Marco had tried helping him cross before, but he had refused, just like when he did with Luffy.

When Ace was done with his work, Ace called Luffy. He needed to know.


	5. Living in denial

"So?" Luffy was sitting on his bed with Ace sitting right in front of him and Sabo who was sitting on Luffy's desk. He would often do that, Luffy had asked him why once and he told him that nobody would try and sit at the same place he did. He really hated the feeling of passing through someone, it felt cold and heavy, as if you're energy was stolen away, only leaving you with a sense of dread.

"So..." Ace said slowly. He didn't really know how he should ask this sort of question. Making Luffy reveal his biggest secrets and keeping his for himself felt pretty selfish, in fact.

"So...?" Luffy sighed as he waited for his brother to actually say something.

"...Is there something you want to tell me?"

"You are the one who called me and asked me to come home! I don't have anything to say!" Luffy shouted in frustration.

"You shouldn't try to apply logic on idiots..." Sabo said under his breath, making the medium chuckle a bit and calm down.

"I... just get frustrated sometimes..." Ace smiled.

"It's okay..." Sabo got off the desk.

"Really, it's not that complicated! You are both so thick-headed... Especially Ace!" Sabo sighed. "Look... Luffy... Ace is just unsure about everything right now since he learned that you have been hiding your ability for years. He just wants to know if you have anything else you would like to share, He won't judge you or reject you no matter what." Luffy looked up at Sabo.

"But I am not hiding anything." He narrowed his eyes. "I am not secretive, not really. You guys are the ones who keep secret!" Luffy started to say, a little louder. He stared at Sabo. "Until not long ago, I didn't know your name!" He turned to look at Ace with a severe expression. The air became suddenly thick and the lights started to flicker. Both the blond spirit and raven-haired older brother started getting nervous. "And you! I don't know anything about your friends, your work, your college life... I would start believing you are trying to get me out of your life! Cut me off!" The whole room seemed to have started shaking. Luffy had his eyes squinted closed with tears gathered in them and his hands covered his ears as he continued his shouting. "Are you going to leave me too?! Like mother and father?! Am I such a nuisance that you would prefer to live with me away?! What did I do wrong?!"

The whole room seemed to have started shaking. A glass on the night stand cracked and broke in pieces. Luffy had his eyes squinted closed with tears gathered in them and his hands covered his ears as he continued his shouting.

Ace stepped forward and took Luffy in his arms in a tight hug. Luffy froze and the whole room returned to normal except for the broken glass who was still on the floor. The boy gripped the back of his brother's shirt and clenched his fists. He started crying in silence and Ace stayed there, supporting and holding onto him. Sabo made a fake smile. This was the kind of moment he regretted dying. He wanted to be there. To feel someone else's warmth when you felt down. But he was dead, there was no coming back from that.

After half an hour, Luffy had fallen asleep. He had found his conversation with Ace and Sabo very tiring, he had never really been that emotionally involved since he stopped being scared of everything and, even if he didn't really know himself, his little display had drained him too. His big brother had gone to the kitchen to make dinner after taking the shards of broken glass on the floor and having thrown them away while he slept. He didn't eat dinner actually after that, Luffy slept until it was morning. Sabo was outside, sitting on a tree branch, Looking sadly and thoughtfully at where he had been stabbed four years ago.

When Luffy finally woke up to the smell of Ace's cooking, Luffy smiled half-heartedly and took his silver locket out of under his shirt. He opened it. The outside was a simple design and of no real importance to him, only the inside really mattered. He opened it. Inside on the left was a little family photo with him, his mother, his father, and Ace. On the right was an engraving who read: Atone your sin.

His breath hitched.

* * *

 

_"Papa... Why are you leaving? Will you come back soon?" Dragon didn't answer. He reached into his pocket and got a silver locket out._

_"I want you to wear this as a reminder. You have been tainted and I don't know what to do to help. You will atone for your sin and maybe one day you will be forgiven."_ _Dragon looked at Luffy severely._

_"What did I do wrong? What is my sin?" His father's glare became harsher and a tad angry. "You were born."_

* * *

 

Luffy looked at his shaking hands, closed the locket and put it back under his shirt. "How can I atone for that?" He chuckled. "You should've just told it to me directly... You want me to die."

_"No priest knows what to do..."_

_"Why can't my only son be normal?"_

_"You should try to be more like Ace, he is an acceptable young man."_

_"Dragon... I think I infanted a demon!"_

He walked to the kitchen heavily and sat by the counter. Ace put a plate of pancakes in front of him. "Good morning... Hey, where is Sabo?"

Ace raised an eyebrow. "How should I know? I can't even see him!" The two started eating their breakfast rather quickly.

Luffy scratched the back of his head. "Oh yeah... Sorry... Hey, today I am going to meet Usopp! He's Kaya's friend!"

The older raven-haired brother smiled.

"You told me a bit about that, what are you going to do?" Ace asked curiously.

"She just wanted to tell him something or ask him something before crossing to the other side I think."

"Have you done that before? Did you do it often?" Ace said with narrowed eyes.

"Well, I helped a few ghosts cross, it makes me feel like I am doing something good out of my life, that it isn't worthless..."

* * *

 

_Do you think I could do something good with my life?"_

_"Of course, why would you ask that?"_

_"Because they told me my life was worthless."_

_"Well, don't listen to them."_

_"What if they are right?"_

_"We will prove them wrong. If it means anything, nobody in the world is worth more than you in my_ eyes."

* * *

 

"Luffy. If your life wasn't worth anything, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Thanks." They both smiled. Ace took the plates and put them back in the sink and Sabo entered the house. He looked at Luffy with a tired expression before he flopped on the couch.

"What's gotten into you?" Ace looked at the couch where Luffy's gaze had locked and guessed the blond spirit had decided to come out from wherever he was hiding.

"Just a bit tired." Luffy frowned.

"Ghosts gets tired?" Ace perked up at the comment.

"No, just... forget it." Luffy made his way to the living room and crouched in front of the spirit.

"I don't forget things easily." Ace chuckled.

"Yes, you do!" Luffy gave his brother a glare before turning back to the blond teen.

"I do, okay, but you will tell me later. Now, I want to meet Usopp." Luffy stood and went to get his keys in his room.

"Hey, Ace!" He shouted from across the house.

"What?"

"Sabo's feeling down, cheer him up, talk to him!" Luffy ran back to the living room with a hoodie on.

"I can't even see him!" Sabo turned to Luffy.

"I am just tired!" Luffy ran to the door.

"Spirits don't get tired and Ace, Sabo's your best friend, you'll figure it out! Bye!" In a flash, he was out and the two were left in the room, speechless.

After a few minutes of silence, Ace decided to talk.

"Sabo. You broke your promise." Ace said severely.

* * *

 

"Hey Marco, how was work today pal?" Thatch, Marco's roommate and best friend since high school was sitting in the living room, watching T.V.

"Nothing interesting... Hey, Ace knows about his watcher spirit latched to him now." Thatch raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a good thing?" Marco shrugged.

"Don't know. Ace didn't take it well at first for sure."

"Well, at least he is not living in denial." Marco sighed.

"We are not talking about that again."

"You have to accept it one day, I died! People die! Don't say it was your fault again or I will punch you!"

"You won't." Thatch smirked.

"Yes, I will... It took me a while to be able to interact with objects, but now, I am fully capable of kicking your ass if you start your guilt trip again!"

"Give me some time."

"You want me to give you some time? For how many years have I been haunting your sorry ass? The problem is that you won't mourn my death if you can still see me! You won't accept my death if you don't mourn and I won't leave until you accept my death!" Thatch said as he sat back on the sofa. His head was smashed in and he had blood coming out of his mouth, his cut on his arms and from his torso. Somehow, even in his poor state, his pompadour hair was still on point. He had the physique of an 18-year-old young man, compared to Marco who looked more around 27.

"Not now."

"Fine... But you could make a new best friend, like Ace. He is living the same problems as you."

"Not exactly..."

* * *

 

Luffy ran to the school at high speed, skipping streets and alleys faster than he ever had when borrowing that route. He made it to the front gate where a pale spirit was waiting for him. She smiled at him and they started heading to Usopp's house. Professor Shanks had given him the address earlier that week. It was a pretty simple and smallish house on the outskirts of town. It took a little while for the two to get there by foot, but Luffy didn't like the metro or the bus, the bus was always too crowded and ghosts of suicides were really creepy in the metro.

They rang the door bell and a boy with curly black hair and a long nose opened the door. Kaya smiled in delight at the sight of her friend and Luffy smirked.

"Are you Usopp?" He said and the boy nodded.

"I want to talk to you... I was friends with Kaya-" The boy stepped back and tried to slam the door closed, but Luffy put his foot to stop the movement.

"You shouldn't run away from what happened." He said in all seriousness.

"How would you know? Kaya told me everything and she never mentioned you. For all I know, you are lying."

"Just listen to what I have to say and I'll go," Luffy said with a sad grin.

"No." Usopp pushed Luffy back a little and closed the door.

"Luffy, we could come back tomorrow. It's okay, he came back from his trip today, he needs some time to breathe a little." Kaya said apologetically. Luffy nodded.

"Are you going to stay here or are you going back to the school?" Kaya thought for a few seconds of her answer.

"He seems pretty down, I want to see if he's alright. See you tomorrow!" Luffy started walking away.

"See you tomorrow!"

* * *

 

Sabo looked at his best friend with a guilty look. "Why did you break your promise? You shouldn't have done that no matter what, that was stupid!"

Sabo looked down.

"I am so mad right now, I want to yell at you, but I can't even see you!"

Sabo chuckled dryly. "Didn't Luffy say you were supposed to cheer me up?"

"I can't see you or hear you... That is the real torture. You are still there but I can't see you. I just want to see you again." Ace brought his hands to his face to cover the tears that were threatening to fall.

"I just want to see you so badly..." Ace looked in Sabo's direction without realizing it and almost managed to look at him in the eyes, which surprised the spirit.

* * *

 

_Ace was running towards Luffy's kindergarten. Dragon couldn't be there after work, he would only come later when he would be done around 8:00 maybe tonight and Ace was the only one who could go fetch Luffy since his mother was occupied too. Sometimes, he would wonder if they had accepted taking care of him after his father's death just so someone would take care of Luffy. As he turned a corner, He bumped into someone. It was a blond boy dressed in expensive looking clothing._

_"I am very sorry." Ace helped the blond stand up. He really hated rich kids in general, but his foster-father had always said to be polite to them if you wanted to avoid trouble since they could do anything with money. The blond stood and smiled._

_"I am sorry as well-" The blond looked at Ace's feature and froze._

_"Ace." The raven haired boy frowned._

_"How do you know my name?" The young noble had piqued his interest. He didn't seem like too much of a jerk and knew his name for some reason. But when Ace did ask, The blond looked completely terrified for a few seconds before apologizing._

_"Sorry for that... My name is Sabo." Ace took his hand and shook. They both studied the other curiously before saying good bye and each going in a different direction._

* * *

 

"Hey, when I was still alive, how come you never told me you were a medium? I wouldn't have judged you, you know?" Thatch said as he looked at his friend with a curious gaze.

"I didn't tell you because I wasn't a medium back then." Thatch's eyes widened.

"How did you become one overnight?" Marco sighed.

"It wasn't overnight... I was feeling so guilty since I was the one who crashed the car that I started wishing I could see you again. I don't know how it happened, I meditated and did everything I could to 'strengthen my soul' and one day I was able to see you. Your image is a bit blurred, but your voice is clear to me. It's not like the other ghosts when I just sense them and hear them." Marco explained as briefly as he could.

"So you weren't born a medium?" Marco shook his head.

"Nobody is born a medium." Thatch hummed.

"What about the two kids?" Marco shrugged.

"I don't know how either of them got their ability, I only heard of them through Ace mostly."

"We should try to find out. I am curious." Thatch slumped back on the sofa and Marco nodded. "And when we will have found out, we will talk about me leaving." Marco nodded again sadly.

* * *

 

"I have been jealous of people with the ability to see spirits all my life." Ace said. Sabo looked at Ace with an apologetic smile, even if he knew he couldn't see it.

"At first, it was my father. He could see my mother and I couldn't. He helped her cross and I never got to meet her." Sabo started nervously playing with the rim of his shirt. Ace had never really opened up to him about things like that, and, even if he had never done, he knew where this was going and didn't like it.

"Then it was you."

* * *

 

_After their first encounter, the two boys bumped into each other a few other times before they started hanging out. Over the month and a half,_ _since they started hanging out, they had become pretty close._

_"What are you looking at Sabo?" The blond had been staring at nothing for a while and it had started to creep out Ace. They were both sitting in a tree in the park. They would often come there since both of their households were strict. They had a bit of free time after school and would meet there._

_"N-Nothing..."_

_"Okay, that's enough. You are my best friend so you need to tell me everything. What the hell is bothering you?" Sabo looked at his feet and sighed._

_"You wouldn't believe me and probably would laugh at me." Ace rolled his eyes._

_"Don't care. Just say it." Sabo shifted his position to be more comfortable before he looked at Ace with a serious look. "I can see ghosts."_

_Ace blinked. He looked at Sabo with a surprised look and then sighed. "Okay."_

_Sabo frowned. "Aren't you going to say I am crazy and be a total jerk about it?!" Ace chuckled._

_"Why would I do that?" Sabo sighed with a smile._

_"You're an idiot." Ace looked at Sabo._

_"My dad was a medium too, I don't know why you couldn't be one so I believe you."_

_"Just like that, huh? It seems so simple now._ "

* * *

 

"I was jealous. I don't really know why. Then you died and Luffy could see you and I was jealous again." Sabo looked at his stab wound. Since that day, his features hadn't changed at all. He had been frozen in time. He would never grow up, just stay here or cross.

"I just wanted to see my mom... I just wanted to see my dad... But never as much as now... I want to see you! Knowing you are here and not being able to see you is the worst." Sabo walked closer to his best friend.

"You're an idiot." Ace froze. The words were faint and he could only barely hear it, but he would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Sabo..."


	6. I need to know the truth

Ace's head snapped directly to where the voice had come from and saw a blurry silhouette in front of him. The voice sounded like it came from far away, but it was still a perfect melody to Ace's ears.

"Can you see me?" Ace concentrated as much as he could on the unclear figure in front of him. His features refined themselves a little bit. His voice started sounding clearer. Ace's head was pounding. The pressure in his mind was too much for anyone to handle, bu the raven haired young man was stubbornly fighting to stay conscious. Everything around him was gone and the surrounding sounds were more like a distant echo except for Sabo. Sabo was standing in front of him and his voice sounded perfectly clear. He looked exactly like he had been four years ago on that fateful night.

"Sabo..." He smiled through the pain as he looked at his best friend.

The pounding raged in Ace's head with even more force as he started to wobble. Sabo's expression quickly turned to one of worry as he saw Ace fall to the ground clutching his head in pain. The spirit rushed to catch him but cursed inwardly as the other passed through him.

Even if you could read Ace's pain in his face easily, the latter smiled. He looked up at Sabo's worried expression. "You'll never change." He said with a hint of sadness before passing out. Sabo started to panic a bit.

"Is that what you call cheering me up idiot?!" Sabo shouted. A few minutes later, Luffy stormed through the front door in hope of raiding the kitchen but stopped dead in his track when he passed the living room where Ace was sprawled on the ground and Sabo was pacing nervously from left to right. Luffy sighed as he went to put the older raven on the couch and looked over at Sabo.

"Did he cheer you up?" Sabo was dumbfounded.

"Cheer me up? CHEER ME UP? The idiot started shouting at me and passed out!"

Luffy chuckled. "That was just his narcolepsy, no need to worry. He does that sometimes."

Sabo shook his head. "It wasn't his narcolepsy. He was holding his head in pain before he passed out and... and... I think he actually saw me." Luffy's eyes twitched and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"That's not possible, Ace isn't a medium." Sabo glanced at Ace, who stirred and groaned before going back in deep sleep.

"Nobody is born a medium, maybe he just... became one!" Luffy's frown deepened.

"What do you mean? How do you know that?" Luffy had a look of betrayal written on his face before it darkened. "You know what? Forget it for now. Don't tell me. When he wakes up, we are all having a long talk and you two will spill everything you hid from me." Luffy left the room and as soon as he slammed his room's door shut, the light in the living room gave out.

"Man... Luffy isn't angry often, but when he is, he isn't kidding around." Sabo sighed and sat next to the sleeping figure on the couch, who groaned again as pain shot through his head.

"You are going to need some aspirins when you wake up... Too bad I can't go fetch it." Sabo said as he awkwardly waited for him to wake up.

Actually, Ace didn't wake up, well, not until the next morning. Luffy had woken up first and had started making breakfast when the perfectly angelic smell of bacon and eggs woke the eldest from his deep slumber. Of course, the first thing he did was complain about his headache, and when asked about how bad it was, he had simply replied that it was an I-was-so-drunk-last-night-I-don't-remember-anything kind of headache, as if he had a monstrous hangover without the good part which was getting drunk the night before.

The three of them blinked in surprise since Sabo was the one who asked the question.

"Can you really see Sabo?" Luffy asked in shock.

"No... I can hear him and sense him, but I can't see him." He said as he gazed around the room for any sign of his blond friend. The latter was frozen in his spot on the verge of tears. Ace could hear him. They could talk... but not right now. Sabo couldn't form any words as no sound wanted to come out of his mouth and Luffy was probably still pissed and in need to scold both of them and get the information he deserved to know out of them.

"Well, that's good because you both need to answer my questions or you won't have bacon and I will kick your ass and you," Luffy pointed at the blond spirit,"I will find a way to kick your spirit ass too." Sabo shivered. He knew Luffy couldn't actually make physical contact with him, but knowing the younger teen, it wasn't impossible to think he could actually find a way to do so.

"What is this about? Questions? What do you want to know?" Ace asked with a sincere expression. Sabo got out of his frozen state and sighed.

"I want to know everything you know about mediums and why you know about it." Ace's eyes widened slightly in understanding. Luffy felt like an outsider to their trio even if before today, the two eldest couldn't talk to each other. He felt as if his two most important people to him, alive or not, were keeping secrets even if he wasn't allowed to keep some himself. He felt lonely.

"It's alright... We'll tell you." Ace said with a smile as he rubbed his fingers against his temple to try and ease the pain without real results.

"I'll get you some aspirins first," Luffy said almost worriedly. He was still angry at both of them, but Ace's and Sabo's well-being had always been a stronger concern for the young medium.

He came back in the room only to find that both of them were sitting around the dining table and that Ace had set up the plates for breakfast. He had put everything the youngest used in the sink to cook to wash it later. Sabo was throwing quick nervous glances his way in hope to read Luffy's expression.

"So... You both knew about ghosts, mediums and probably more even before Sabo died," They both cringed slightly at Luffy's words, "Is that correct?"

They both nodded almost guiltily.

"Why? How?" Luffy said abruptly and without a trace of emotions. His eyes were shadowed. At that moment, Ace and Sabo felt like scum. The horrors those eyes had witnessed and lived through were more than anything a 13-year-old boy should have ever witnessed. True, they had both seen their share of bloodshed, but Luffy was something else, he was the youngest and was to be protected from those horrors by his older siblings. They knew as they looked in those onyx black eyes, that they had sucked at this particular aspect of brotherhood. They had messed up royally actually. Even if Ace wasn't blood-related to him, he had seen Luffy grow up since he was a baby and Sabo, who had never met the youngest in his life before, well, his death, had, him too, been feeling protective of him, but they both hadn't done anything to prevent those horrors from happening. The worst part was they didn't even know what those horrors were.

Sabo took a deep breath. "Ace's father was a medium, so he learned about that from him... But for me... I learned it when I became one." Luffy didn't say anything. His gaze was severe, but the two others knew Luffy was just keeping everything in.

"I was a medium," Sabo stated more clearly this time. The youngest shook his head.

"You have more to say." Inside, Luffy's heart was clenching. He didn't know if he was hurt, mad, sad or surprised, he just knew it hurt, for an unknown reason. Still, he had a lot of practice in the past for hiding his emotions.

"It's true," Ace said, "We do have more to say..." He paused for a few seconds." My friend at work, Marco, is a minor medium, a sensor as he calls himself I think. He told me that mediums with the ability to actually see spirits had a high possibility to have one or more psychic abilities... We wanted to know yours and discovered you have telekinesis-." Ace froze for a second. "Sabo..."

The blond took a sharp breath.

"... What?"

"What was your psychic power?"

* * *

 

Luffy went back to his room after their talk and breathed heavily. He hadn't been prepared for the information that had been revealed to him and now he needed some time to breathe. It was still early and he had some things to do today. First, he had to go to Usopp's house again. Maybe the other teen would be ready today to hear Kaya's message to him. Then, in the afternoon, He wanted to go hang out with his friends. Zoro couldn't come right away because he had kendo practice in the afternoon, but he would be there around 3:30.

But he needed a few minutes first to process the information he just learned. He looked at a book on his night table. He pointed his hand toward the object in question.

"Lift... Fly..." Nothing happened. He sighed. He was psychic, that is what Ace and Sabo said and, apparently, a pretty powerful one. They weren't even sure if it was his only ability. But Sabo... Well... He hadn't been as lucky as he was if you could count it as luck. His ability... Luffy shivered. He actually felt bad for him now.

Luffy looked at the time and his eyes widened. He had to sprint to Usopp's house! As he ran through the streets to get to where his pale spirit friend was waiting, he failed to notice a blond with swirly brows who spotted him running and decided to follow him.

"Usopp!" Luffy shouted as he pressed the doorbell. It took a full minute, but the long-nosed boy answered.

"What do you want?" The boy still looked sad and hurt, even if his friend had died a few month prior. Luffy could clearly see that he had been in need to talk to someone or to see Kaya again. He smiled softly.

"I just want to talk. Come with me at the park, It won't take long." Luffy said as he pulled the other boy's arm. He really wanted to make the other boy leave his house for a little while, it would be good for him. Usopp didn't resist and followed. Kaya got out of the house too and they all made their way to the park, even the eavesdropping blond. They walked without saying a word. Luffy was looking up at the sky with a smile while Usopp did the opposite. They arrived at the park and sat on a bench.

"There are a few things Kaya wanted you to know...-" Usopp listened to every word the other teen said as Kaya listed the things out loud to Luffy. Usopp smiled and his eyes filled themselves. It was definitively Kaya's words. By the end of the message, Usopp was crying in Luffy's shoulder and Kaya was sweeping her's away. Sanji who was still listening close by was filled with questions. When did Kaya trust Luffy with that kind of message? They barely spoke in class, well, actually, nobody really talked to Luffy before.

People often said Luffy was a freak. The blond was starting to understand why.

They walked back to Usopp's house and Usopp was smiling. He hadn't done that in a long while.

"Are you alright now?" Luffy asked as they walked on the porch.

"Yeah... I think I will go back to school soon. I feel a lot better now. I know I will never forget her, but I won't let her become a burden. It's a promise." Luffy smiled brightly.

"Good! Where are you going to enlist? Your old school? Or are you going to come to mine? It could be fun! It's still early in the year, I a sure you could transfer easily." Usopp nodded.

"That would probably help since you know what I went through. Thanks a lot!" Usopp closed the door. Just as Sanji had decided he would leave since this was over, Luffy spoke again.

"What are you going to do now?"

Sanji froze. Was he talking to him? He turned back to see Luffy on the porch talking to... nothing.

"Really? Well, that is probably a good thing. I will miss you, you know."

Sanji looked at Luffy with a frown. Th other teen was smiling as if he was talking to someone. he couldn't fake that to get attention or be talking to anyone around, Sanji was missing something. Something big.

But before his eyes, even if he didn't know it, Kaya crossed to the other side and a single tear slid down Luffy's smiling face.

* * *

 

Later that day, Sanji, Nami and Vivi were in front of Luffy's house. They had all agreed to meet there since he lived in the middle of the city near all the shops and interesting things to do.

They knocked the front door and Ace answered.

"Hey, you must be Luffy's friends! Come in." The three teen smiled and entered the house. Luffy just got out of his room as they did.

"Hey, guys!" The raven haired teen said as he walked to them. Ace glanced at the counter. He knew Sabo was sitting there looking at them with a glad but depressed expression. He could almost feel it radiate from him, even if he couldn't see it.

Of course, their bloodied spirit friend was glad Luffy could talk to more alive people, but he still felt the same pang in his soul every time he saw it. Luffy and Ace were both alive. They were both breathing still, but he was not. Even after four years, the poor ghost couldn't move on. He couldn't even mourn and accept his own death.

"So, what do you want to do while we wait for Zoro?" The two girls shrugged and Sanji pointed to the living room.

"Do you have video games we could play four players? That could be fun. We could also watch a movie." They all agreed and moved to the living room. They ended up playing a few different Mario games, but mostly Mario cart. At one point when Ace had left to make groceries with Sabo following him to get out of the house a bit, Sanji decided to pull Luffy aside. The two girls had started playing super Mario 3D world and were getting pretty good so they didn't really pay attention to the two when they left to get snacks in the kitchen.

Sanji pulled the other boy with him almost roughly. He wasn't really a bully or even keen to violence, but he wanted answers on what was up with Luffy. The other kid looked slightly startled in the change of attitude but didn't resist, he just looked curiously at Sanji and entered the kitchen.

"What's this about?" The raven haired boy asked nervously and almost defensively. Sanji was glaring at him with his swirly eyebrows furrowed, which, surprisingly, didn't look ridicule but rather more intimidating than it should be.

"How do you know my mom's name?" Luffy opened his mouth and closed it immediately as fear took over. He had only started to hang out with those guys, he didn't want to lose them right away!

"I...I..." Sanji took a sharp breath.

"And what about... Who are you talking to all the time when no one is around? You always start talking to the air and it's kind of weird."

"I... can't explain." Sanji frowned.

"In those situations, aren't you supposed to say I can explain?" Luffy shook his head.

"I actually can't right now." Sanji sighed.

"Luffy, you are actually someone fun to hang out with. You are cheerful and energetic and I-" He looked back at the two girls in the living room who couldn't hear a word of the conversation through their loud game."We probably all need that, but I just want to know."

Luffy's eyes narrowed. "You want to know? Why does everyone want to know but never say anything themselves? You won't tell me your secrets since we started talking a few days ago, I won't tell you mine!" The lights flickered. Luffy froze before he sighed. " You know what, I am sorry. It's been stressful for me lately." Luffy exited the kitchen, leaving behind the blond, who only became more curious about Luffy's secret now.

The rest of the day was really nice... Zoro came back from his kendo practice and they all hung out, Sabo and Ace talked about their past together, reminiscing the good old days... but Luffy knew, deep down, this friendship wouldn't last. He had until they all learned the truth. Still, it wasn't even the hardest thing either Ace, Luffy or Sabo had to deal with today.

* * *

 

_"Sabo..."_

_The blond took a sharp breath._

_"... What?"_

_"What was your psychic power?"_

_"I had... visions." Ace looked at his friend with an unimpressed frown._

_"That's it? Why didn't you tell me?" Sabo looked down._

_"It wasn't actually visions it was a single vision that I saw more than once." Ace and Luffy narrowed their eyes and the blond continued._

_"Half of the time, when I went to sleep, I would dream of how I would die. I tried to stop it. I was sure there was a way. When I met you, Ace, I just wanted to avoid you at first since I knew I would die in your arms... But I couldn't. Everything I did to avoid it just sealed my fate. That is why I never told you. I knew it would happen. When, how, why, everything, I knew and I couldn't stop it." Sabo put his hand to his face and tried to hide his tears._

_"I died... And I could never tell you how much you meant to me... That you saved my life... Until today." He smiled at Ace as he brushed his tears away. Now they had it. The truth._

_But the truth hurts._


	7. Washed away down the river

"I am sure your mom is alright. She can handle herself. She probably just... Had a hard time with her case and... She lost her phone and wallet! The police said she went undercover, maybe she had to do an infiltration to get the mission done..." Vivi said to her friend as she tried finding a few hypothesis to her mother's disappearance. Nami smiled and looked back at her blue haired friend.

"Thanks... But... I just want to get it off my mind right now." Nami hugged her friend and returned to the game.

"Yes, Nami, you shouldn't worry too much. Your mother is strong." Sanji said. Zoro nodded, but Luffy didn't speak on the subject since he already partly knew the truth and didn't particularly want to lie nor tell the truth.

"They are going to find out one day... Sooner than you would think." Sabo said as he looked apologetically at the ground. Luffy glanced to his side for a second and bit his lips.

"I think sooner would be better. The two sisters are dying in worry. At least they would know." Kuina said with a stern expression. She wasn't the kind of girl who would mourn and cry for long after someone died or a tragic event happened. It may look as being heartless, but the spirit had always preferred to move on quickly and forget the pain rather than live it for too long.

"Well, not too soon and not from Luffy, he would have a lot to explain and I don't think they are ready emotionally for the news," Sabo said as he looked at Nami. Kuina nodded and Ace, who was bringing snacks at the moment, nodded too as he had to agree with the blond. He could barely hear a few words Kuina had said, but if he concentrated a little, he could keep up with their conversation to a minimum.

When it started getting late, they heard a knock at the door. As the older brother opened the door, he was met with the sight of a teenage girl a few years younger than him, maybe two or three. She had light blue hair and was smiling at him, asking for permission to enter. The thing that made Ace uneasy was the weird feeling he had that the girl wasn't alone. His gaze fell on Luffy as he invited the young woman in and the other presence he could barely register. He didn't like that feeling since he preferred knowing who was inside his house. Luffy and Sabo had already told him about Kuina, but this was a new person, he had obviously guessed it was a ghost, and it gave him a feeling that was so different than when he was around Sabo.

Sabo was clearly there, for once. His aura radiated to him like fire and, since he knew him well, the spirit was easy for him to detect since the latest incident. Other spirits were a different story. He knew they were there but his ability to sense them wasn't very precise. The only exception was poltergeists and angry spirits, those were easy to detect, not that he had the misfortune of running into one yet since he acquired the new ability. Still, he wasn't used to it yet and felt uneasy around stranger-spirits.

The spirit who followed Nojiko inside looked pretty frantic as she looked up at Luffy.

"I need to talk to you, Luffy." Luffy stopped and shot a glance at Ace as Sabo tried to explain Ace why. It was clear what it meant.  _I need time, stall them._

"I am going to my room for a minute, wait up." Bellemere understood and made her way to the room, following Luffy.

"Wait, we are leaving!" Nami said as she looked at Nojiko, who had come to pick her up.

"You should drink some water first and have a snack, you live a bit far and you are both on foot, you should replenish your energy." It somehow convinced the two girls to stay a little while longer, but Luffy still had to hurry.

"What is it?" Luffy was sitting on his bed with a serious expression. He knew that something bad was happening and that Nami and Nojiko were getting hurt, but he didn't know how to help the two sisters... Until now, at least.

"I need you to find my... corpse." Luffy stilled and turned white as a sheet. He had seen ghosts, but corpses were inanimate. They couldn't talk or move, they were just a shell devoid of their soul. It terrified him. Death terrified Luffy, even if he was talking with the dead every day. Seeing ghosts and an actual corpse was two completely different things. The fact that ghosts almost seemed alive, since they could walk and talk made everything less... real. It made it simpler. The soul was everything a person was, a corpse was an empty body who had his soul ripped out of it by death. Death was terrifying.

"Why?" Luffy asked with a raspy voice. The spirit looked at Luffy's eyes who were still full of fear and took a deep breath. It wasn't going change her resolve.

"I couldn't remember how I died until a little while ago. Memories around that time were foggy, but I know now that if you find my body, it will save my girls and maybe give them closure." Luffy nodded.

"Will it give you closure too?" Bellemere thought about it for a few seconds and nodded slowly. She knew already what he meant. When this was over, she would be able to leave in peace.

"How will it save Nami and Nojiko?" Bellemere bit his lips. She wasn't happy about her girls being stuck with a monster.

"The police will be able to identify who killed me and put him behind bars. It was Arlong. I had been called for duty on a drug dealer case. I came as fast as I could where they thought the dealers were selling, under the bridge near the Cocoyashi district, undercover. Arlong hadn't been home that day and I discovered him at the scene, which, of course, blew my cover. He was secretly stealing drugs from the evidence room at the station to sell it and make more money on the side. It startled me and he smashed my head. I am not sure what happened after that, but I was barely conscious when I started feeling like I was drowning." Luffy nodded. He was obviously fazed by the information but chose to keep a calm face. He had already known the strict policeman was bad news. He was just fishy.

"Luffy!" It was Ace's voice. Apparently, The two sisters had to leave and he needed to say goodbye. Before leaving the room, he turned around to face the disfigured woman's face and smiled softly.

"Leave it to me."

* * *

Sabo and Ace looked at the youngest's fierce and determined eyes as his last friend exited the house. They had all enjoyed hanging out together, but Luffy seemed almost angry.

"What is it?" They both said at the same time. Luffy wasn't listening. He seemed deep in his own thoughts.

"Luffy, what are you doing? What did the spirit tell you?" Ace asked, not sure of what to say.

"She told me about Nami a bit more, that's all. To keep an eye on her so she wouldn't be unhappy." Ace and Sabo narrowed their eyes.

"That's it?" Luffy sighed.

"Yes, that is it. She is their mother, of course, she is worried! Now leave me be." He didn't like lying to Ace nor Sabo, but they would become really annoying or angry when he did something dangerous. Retrieving a corpse for the police was something that could be considered dangerous by the two borderline overprotective dorks he lived with, but he wanted to help his new friends at any cost. Get Nami out of Arlong's house, make Zoro maybe, at least, open more to his friends about his situation at home, find a way to make Sanji's situation better too, help Vivi, she probably also had her own problems. Just like what he did with Usopp, he helped him move on, just like he helped Kaya move on.

Luffy went to his room and laid down on his bed. Tomorrow, he was going to help his new friend.

* * *

"I am going out!" Luffy rushed out of the house as fast as he could. He didn't want Sabo following him or Ace questioning him on where he was going. He had a backpack with a few snacks to eat on the bus since the bridge of the Cocoyashi district was pretty far. It would probably take over an hour, maybe even more.

The whole ride, the medium had a pit in his stomach. He felt a sense of dread that he had sensed only once in his life. It was an overwhelming feeling of fear that he had felt last when he was younger, around 3 or four. There was something in his closet. That thing in his closet was the first time he remembered seeing a dangerous type of ghost. It had... appeared one day, he didn't quite remember, but he remembered well the feeling.

The feeling was the one he had every night as he went to bed. There had been a Poltergeist in his room, waiting for him to be alone to be able to inflict on someone all the pain he had lived in his life. It had been horrible for him, poltergeists were scary. Some tried to kill you, some just wanted to make you feel their pain. Scratch marks on his skin he had to find a way to explain, often passing it as a cat's doing, and other tormenting things such as graphic images shown to him as he was only four.

Today, he had a very similar feeling. He didn't like corpses. They were really hard to look at without wanting to barf himself. They were also dead, and death was scary. You would think mediums because they knew what would happen when you die, wouldn't be scared of dying, but Luffy was very scared when facing death like anyone. Even more so than some other people since he knew exactly what death meant. It was permanent. No matter how much you held on, like Sabo or Kuina, it would never go back to how it was before. Dying meant that you were gone forever, and that was something people had a hard time accepting. Those who didn't accept it and stayed too long well... He didn't like it at all.

He got off the bus at the edge of the Cocoyashi district and started crossing the bridge. On the other side, there was a small town and a gigantic forest stretching out for a few miles. The bus didn't go into the little town since it was rather small and it didn't take a lot more than five minutes to cross the bridge on foot. The sky was a bit cloudy, but it wasn't too bad for the beginning of October. When he finished crossing the bridge, Luffy ran around to the side of the river. He gulped and approached slowly. The raven haired boy had a fear of water. Even if he couldn't remember well, he had almost drowned when he was only 2 years old and, even if the memory attached to it had left long ago, the fear and dread around water haunted him to this day. He wasn't a very good swimmer, even if he knew how to do it, he would just often panic if he couldn't touch the bottom. Here, if he fell in, the flow was too strong for him to actually try to swim. He took a deep breath and followed along the current.

Bellemere had died of drowning. Since he wanted to get rid of the body fast, Arlong could've just thrown her in the river and the current would've washed away her body. Apparently, she had already been undercover for two days when she was murdered and couldn't keep contact with the police in that time, so they don't really have any idea of where she could've been. She wasn't supposed to be undercover for more than a week. Every passing day after that had made the police station heavier and heavier in dread of what could've happened. They all knew the risks, but they didn't like it at all.

The young medium continued walking for a few miles until he got to the edge of the town. It was more likely that Arlong had thrown her in the water from that point or someone would've seen it. He continued walking in the forest around forty-five minutes at a very slow pace, analyzing the stream with patience.

Stuck in a branch, there was a piece fabric. Luffy got closer to it. He remembered Bellemere wearing pants with the similar fabric that were torn a bit near her knees.

His breathing hitched and he took the fabric with a shaky hand. This meant he was probably close. He looked a little farther down the stream just to see a blurry figure just beneath the surface. The boy dropped the fabric and went to his bag to get his phone. He had never had a harder time in his life to call such simple number. 911. It was three numbers, but his hand was trembling and his legs felt weak under him.

"Nami's mother died..." The news suddenly hit him like a brick wall. The young raven haired boy laid his back against a tree and let himself slide down to a sitting position. His whole body felt heavy and his heart sank in his chest. Before, seeing spirits didn't really bother him, but at this moment, Luffy felt himself wanting to shout, puke or cry. All these people, Kuina, Sabo, Bellemere, Mrs. Sora, Kaya... they were all dear to him now, even if he had never talked or never met any of them in their living life. But they were dead.

"Nami is going to be devastated..." But he still had to do it for things to go better for his new friends. Nami didn't know, but everything was going to be alright after this. His fingers stopped shaking and he dialed the number.

"911, what is your emergency?" Luffy's voice was raspy as he spoke.

"There is a woman sleeping in the river... She is... She is de- She is..." He didn't want to say it. Of course, He sounded childish that way, but even if he knew what had happened, it was hard to stay calm.

"Stay calm boy. Tell us where you are." Luffy nodded.

"I am at the Conomi river, across from the bridge near the Cocoyashi district. A few miles down the stream out of the town..." The person on the line had a stern, but a reassuring voice.

"Okay. Just stay where you are, a police officer is on his way to get you. Don't look at it boy, it will be better. The ambulance will arrive a bit later to retrieve the body when you will be home and safe, away from the scene okay? It won't take long." Luffy answered and hung up. He reached his bag and started eating his snacks, but he was surprisingly not really hungry. He took a sweater he had packed in his bag in case it suddenly got cold and put it on.

Having nothing better to do, Luffy took his locket in his hand. He looked at the little picture with a smile. His smile was so innocent back then. It was a simple and honest ear to ear smile. He wasn't even two years old yet and he could already be amazed by everything around him. Ace had a smile on too, but it was still a little sad. He was probably still not over his parents' death at that point, but he tried not showing it the best he could. He closed it back, deciding to not analyze his mother and father in this picture.

His fingers sub consciously brushed over his scar under his left eye. Things would never be normal for him. Nevertheless, it wasn't always bad.

* * *

"We have a kid near Cocoyashi who seems to have found something. I need someone to go get the kid before we go investigate. We can't have the kid there while we do." Arlong sat up as his eyes had flicked in panic for less than a second.

"I will go, I know that place really well and I can handle the child well, I have two step-daughters." They all nodded, accepting Arlong's offer of help, most police officers weren't the best at handling kids. It was, in their minds, for the best if Arlong went.

* * *

Luffy woke up from a short nap to go take something in his bag.

"Hi, It's Luffy... right?" Luffy froze and slowly turned around. In front of him was a man far scarier than any everyday ghosts he saw. Even scarier than those who had half of their brain blown off, scarier than someone who would've died because his skin was peeled off. Almost as scary as a poltergeist. He was a murderer, and he had a gun pointing at him. His voice got caught in his throat.

"So this is what is going to happen, boy, okay? The bad drug dealers are going to shoot you and you will die. I will try to shoot them, but they will run away. Nobody will know what you found." His voice was dark and low, although he seemed almost distressed.

"No..." Luffy looked at the gun in fear. He didn't want to die. Ace would be sad, probably mad too. He had made friends for once. He didn't want to lose any of the small pieces of freedom he had found in his life by dying today.

Suddenly, as Arlong pulled the trigger, time seemed to slow down. Luffy clenched his eyes closed and his arms were covering his tear stranded face.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" He threw his arms away with a thrilling shout filled with all his anger and fear. Arlong was propelled backward and the bullet deviated from its trajectory, even if it wasn't far, only grazing the boy's ear.

Luffy breathed heavily before he took his bag and started running in the woods. He had seen Arlong was starting to stand up again and he didn't want to be near when he would completely come to his senses.

"COME BACK HERE YOU TRASH!" The officer was furious. He couldn't let any witnesses live, or he would live the rest of his life in prison. Maybe even get executed for killing someone. He had lost his composure and was panicking. The kid had to die.

Luffy, on the other hand, ran as fast as he could deeper and deeper into the forest. He tried calling with his phone, but his connexion was lost as soon as he had entered the forest. His only shot at surviving was to get near the stream since it was closer to the city where he would probably get his connexion back or the town. He wouldn't get murdered if there were witnesses around since Arlong just wanted to kill the witnesses. He took a glance behind him and saw Arlong from far away. The man couldn't have a clear shot from where he was, but Luffy had shorter legs.

"Go away please..." He felt himself being overwhelmed by fear. There was someone chasing him in a forest with a gun and he was getting closer and closer. Adrenaline was keeping his legs going for now, but he knew he couldn't run for too long. Also, he didn't know the forest as well as Arlong did. He had lived all his younger life on the other side of the city.

"Just go away..." His heart was pounding as he felt the psychopath coming closer. His eyes were wide and alert for anything that would help him.

**BANG!**

There was a gunshot that hit the tree half a meter away from his head. Luffy sped up. Even if his legs were killing him, Arlong would be the one killing him if he stopped now. The loud noise of the pistol wasn't really reassuring and Luffy knew he had to run for at least 10 to 20 extra minutes if he wanted to make it to the town. He just had to survive, but the odds were against him. Arlong was getting closer...

* * *

_"Go away..." Luffy pulled his covers in front of his face as the man from the closet approached him. A rope was still loosely hanging around his neck, you could clearly see the marks where it had choked him. The scary thing was, it wasn't attached to the ceiling anymore, so the man could move as he wanted._

_"Please... Go away... I want to sleep..." The ghost glared at the boy in anger._

_"YOU DON'T KNOW MY PAIN!" The man was scaring him._

_"YOU ARE JUST AN IGNORANT CHILD!" He came closer and started to hit him and scratch his skin until it bled._

_Luffy started crying and screaming, trying to get away, but he couldn't. Suddenly his door opened and the ghost had left._

_"Luffy what's wrong?" Luffy shook his head and covered the scratches._

_"I was having a nightmare..." Ace gave the boy a sad smile._

_"Sorry Luffy, it will pass. Try to sleep okay?" He nodded and Ace went back to his room next door. The ghost didn't appear again that night._

* * *

"Ace..." His tears were running down slowly on his cheek as he ran.

**BANG!**

The second one was a bit closer to his head. Now, he couldn't feel anything in his legs right now. He just knew they were moving and that was enough for him. He didn't even want to shoot a glance behind him in fear of the other catching up faster.

_'There are only two ways I can escape this.'_  Luffy thought as he avoided trees, branches, and rocks on his way,  _'Either I go faster or he slows down.'_

Going faster was impossible. If it wasn't for the fact that his life depended on it, he would've collapsed by now. Slowing down Arlong was something he could hardly manipulate, _unless..._

The young psychic looked at an old tree that was leaning dangerously to his left about 30 meters away from him and turned sharply toward it.

**BANG!**

The bullet hit his shoulder, he clutched it in pain but continued running. He lifted his uninjured arm in the air and concentrated on the old tree. When he passed under it, he brought his arm down sharply with a loud shout.

"FALL!"

The old tree fell a few steps in front of Arlong. He stopped and jumped back. Despite his surprise, he resumed his race by climbing over the wide trunk. Nevertheless, he had given Luffy a lot of time to widened the gap between them.

Although he was a lot farther now, the young medium couldn't take this for much longer. His legs would probably give up anytime soon and his shoulder was bleeding a lot.

It hurts.

It hurts.

_It hurts._

_"You are so lucky to still be alive. Always remember that."_ The blond spirit's words rang in his ears.

_'I can't die now. Not today.'_ Luffy thought as he tried running faster than he could.

He ran.

And ran.

_And ran._

Until he couldn't run anymore. His legs gave out under him and he fell to the floor helplessly. Tears started to fall from his eyes as he waited for the last shot of the pistol...

But it never came. He looked up, only to see the small town a few meters away. He looked behind, but Arlong had stopped chasing him when they got too close. He was probably trying to escape now. The pain in his shoulder and his legs suddenly hit him all at once and he let escape a scream.

* * *

Luffy woke up in an ambulance as a medic was putting pressure on his wound and another was speaking on a talkie-walkie about a hospital and his injury his vision was blurry. He could barely register the sound of the ambulance's siren as it sped to the nearest hospital. there was a clinic in the little town, but they needed to get to the city fast if they wanted the young boy to not loose too much blood. He was already pale enough as it was.

The next time he woke up, he was in a white room with wires and bandages on him. There was someone holding his hand on his right and someone pacing back and forth nervously on his left.

"Luffy, are you alright?" The figure on his left said as he sat up. He could recognize the voice as Ace's, but it took a few more seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light.

"I... I think." The pain in his legs and his shoulder was still there. He also had a new found pain in his ankle, but despite all of it, he was still alive and that was what mattered.

"Then what were you thinking, you idiot?!" The second person in the room yelled harshly. It was Sabo. He was still pretty shaken and seemed almost angry.

"You could've died!" Ace followed, but his voice was more sad than mad.

"Well, I didn't. I didn't put myself in danger for fun, it was to help my friend so I don't regret it." This shut the two eldest up. Luffy had always been very generous. He would put his brother or anyone he cared about before his life systematically, and there was nothing they could say that would be able to change that.

Ace sighed. "We were just worried. Don't do crazy stuff like that on your own." He threw at Sabo an accusing glare before returning to Luffy.

"There will be some officers who will come by soon, they will ask you about what happened. The nurse said that you got shot, extenuated your legs and hurt your ankle when you fell. She doesn't think it's sprained, though. She wants you to sleep a lot and get better. Sabo will stay with you at all time, but I can't. Your friend with orange hair, Nami, learned about it and said she would come with the rest of your friends later today. The police said they found and identified the body you found in the river too."

Sabo was looking pretty nervous still as he looked through the window. He still looked uncomfortable with what Luffy had done.

"Good..." Luffy thought of his misadventure. He had never feared death more than when he was running in the forest. He felt his head was so heavy from his 'attacks' against Arlong. However, he couldn't be happier than he was now. He had saved his friend.


	8. Almost everyone will worry

When the police investigators finally left, only Luffy and Sabo remained in the room. "You should never do anything like that. Never again." Sabo was standing next to Luffy with a neutral expression. His eyes were so devoid of any trace of emotion and his features gaze was so cold that it sent a shiver down the young raven-haired boy's spine. Despite this, the younger's resolve wouldn't be affected and his will to help his friends wasn't weakened at all. It was stronger than ever.

"You know I won't listen to you, why do you even bother?" Sabo's expression still didn't change.

"Because I don't want you to die the way I did." Luffy flinched.

"I won't."

Sabo sighed. There was something about mediums and psychics in general, they all seemed to have a death wish. Every one of them, at least the ones he had known had wanted to help others at the cost of their lives. Even him, he had tried helping others and to prevent his own death but he couldn't. At least, he hadn't died alone.

"If you do, Ace wouldn't be able to go on. He lost everyone else the same way." Luffy nodded slowly.

"I won't leave Ace alone in this world." Sabo took a step closer to Luffy.

"I just want both of you to live."

Sabo went to put his hand on the younger's cheek but passed through as always. He quickly brought his clenched fists to his chest and bit his lips before returning to the window with blurry eyes.

* * *

"Luffy!" Four young teens entered the room almost in a panicked mood as they approached their hospitalized friend. He was still laying in his bed with a scrunched face as the pain in his shoulder came and went.

"Are you alright?" Vivi asked first. The blue-haired girl had been pretty worried. Nami had called not long ago to tell her Luffy had been sent to the hospital due to him getting shot, she could hardly wrap her head around this before Nami revealed that her mother's body had been found. The two girls couldn't really decide what was the most shocking between the two, both news had been overwhelming. Not long after that, they had contacted Zoro and Sanji with the same information. Even if they were less affected by the information, both of them had been surprised and confused by it. Especially Sanji. He had noticed since the first day that Luffy was hiding something, and somehow, he thought him finding Bellemere's body wasn't just a coincidence. Just as he had thought it was weird Luffy knew his mother's name. Just as he had thought it wasn't normal to speak to air.

"I am, mostly. Nami, and you, are you alright?" Luffy had asked in concern. Her eyes were puffed red and she was sniffing a bit. Her hands were shaking and her eyes were unfocused too. Nami looked up at him and tried to nod, but she couldn't. Her legs were on the verge of giving out from under her.

She came closer and took Luffy into a hug before she started crying softly. Luffy bit back a hiss of discomfort as pain shot through his wound and started rubbing her back in circles slowly. Vivi came behind Nami and put her hand on her shoulder. Sanji and Zoro looked down in silence as they all untangled themselves and took a place around Luffy's hospital bed. The psychic grunted as he tried sitting up before Zoro started helping him.

"How did that happen?" Zoro spoke out the question on everyone's mind. They had all been really curious on how did Luffy of all people ended up in the hospital. Nami had heard the big lines from the officer that had come to her house, but not in details. The raven haired boy didn't look like the kind of guy who would randomly take strolls down a river or in the forest, but they hardly knew anything about him.

"I had to go visit someone in the town outside Cocoyashi, but I got there early and decided to take a walk down the river. I lost track of time and ended up pretty far, I saw something in the water and called the police." He had repeated the story in his head a few times before the little group had arrived. It was Sabo who had reminded him that he had new people who wanted to know about him and cared outside of him and Ace and those people couldn't know the whole truth. They looked at him expectantly and he furrowed his brows.

"What?"

The sighed. "What happened after that?" Sanji said curiously.

Luffy froze. He hadn't really thought of how to explain the rest since it was still a bit hazy. He settled to say exactly what he remembered, without the psychic part.

"Mr. Arlong came and tried to shoot me, but he missed and I ran into the forest," Nami stopped him.

"He is known as one of the best shots, how could he have missed?" Luffy shrugged nervously.

"He must have been under a lot of pressure, he knew if I didn't die, he would go to jail... So... He missed." They all seemed to accept the answer, but Sanji was frowning a bit still as he had noticed Luffy's nervousness at the question.

"I ran and ran... It's still a little fuzzy, he shot me and hit my shoulder... I ran again until I collapsed a few steps outside of the town... I don't remember everything well..." They nodded and looked at Luffy's shoulder. He was stiff and looked tired, but outside of this, he didn't seem to be shaken by the incident. Any other 13 years old would be crying and maybe screaming in pain or in terror after this, but he seemed to manage his emotions incredibly well. Of course, he had been scared, but he had been through worse. At least now he had the strength to run away, it was better than being trapped in one place as you helplessly look at one of your biggest fear in the eye.

He shivered. The little group was talking while Sabo and Kuina were casually exchanging the real details of today's events when the door burst open.

"Hey, Luffy, are you alright?" It was a curly haired boy who had entered the room panting as he had run as fast as he could to get there. He approached the bed not really minding the surprised stares he got, and one of recognition coming from Sanji. Luffy giggled.

"How did you learn about it so fast?" Usopp took a large breath as he tried to calm down from all his running.

"Your... brother, I think, called your professor Shanks to tell him you wouldn't be there tomorrow since you were in the hospital and he told my father since they were hanging out together in our house and I was in the room, so I heard and ran here to see if you were okay, I know you got shot, are you alright?" Luffy smiled sheepishly as he looked at the curly haired boy.

"Of course I am!" Everyone else looked at them in surprise. Nami, Vivi, Sanji and Zoro never really thought Luffy had some other friends.

"Who are you?" The two girls shouted, Zoro didn't really care and Sanji somewhat recognized the boy since he had seen Luffy go to his house.

"My name is Usopp! I am Luffy's..." The boy thought about it for a few seconds. He didn't really know how to describe it since he had seen Luffy twice and hadn't been really friendly. He could say he was an acquaintance, but he wouldn't care enough about an acquaintance to rush to the hospital the second he learned about it.

"He's a friend." The medium smiled. Usopp blinked before he nodded with a smile too. Somehow, Luffy was helping heal his heart from the ache he had been enduring ever since Kaya died just by being there. In his eyes you could see he cared and that he knew exactly what you were going through. He felt like he had someone to lean on in case he would need it. It was reassuring.

Zoro shrugged and accepted it easily, rolling with whatever happened. Vivi went to Usopp and started trying to know a bit more about the newcomer. Nami simply smiled sheepishly and sat on a chair while Sanji was trying to understand what he was missing. He remembered what he heard Luffy say when he was alone on the porch of the curly-haired teen, but he couldn't understand their meaning.

* * *

_"What are you going to do now?"_

_Sanji froze. Was he talking to him? He turned back to see Luffy on the porch talking to... nothing._

_"Really? Well, that is probably a good thing. I will miss you, you know."_

_Sanji looked at Luffy with a frown. The other teen was smiling as if he was talking to someone. He couldn't fake that to get attention or be talking to anyone around._

* * *

It simply didn't fit all together. He was missing a piece of the puzzle. He bit his lips in frustration. When he had confronted Luffy, his words were confusing him more than helping him.

_I... can't explain._

Maybe Luffy was hiding something horrible. Maybe he was sick. Maybe Luffy was delusional. He wanted to know since the only thing he knew was that Luffy wasn't normal. Today's events just proved it. Nobody would come back from a traumatic and near death experience and smile. Luffy was smiling right now. It was hard to see this. See someone so carefree and happy when you were still burdened with some things that happened so long ago.

"Are you okay Sanji?" Sanji snapped to the injured teen in the hospital bed in front of him. Luffy was actually worried about him when he was the reckless one. His eyes showed too much compassion and understanding, it was almost irritating. It was as if Luffy already knew what he was thinking, why he was angry, why he was confused and why he was scared.

"Why are you concerned about anyone but yourself at this moment? Aren't you the one who almost got yourself killed?" He replied almost angrily. Luffy didn't flinch at the outburst. He smiled.

"Almost, like you said, I am not dead. I am okay for now, so why worry? Other people have worse problems than mine's." Sanji glanced at Nami. She was still very silent and was on a chair in the corner of the room. He looked down in shame and bit his lips.

"I guess you are right." He walked over to the orange haired girl and tried to get her to smile. It was sweet, Luffy thought, friendship was something he wanted now more than anything. He was sure he had acquired it, but even if Usopp seemed to now enjoy his company, Zoro didn't really care about who he hung out with, Vivi loved everyone and Nami was almost completely saved, Sanji doubted him. When he would tell them all the truth, would they leave him behind? He didn't know... He couldn't tell them now. He was too scared of losing them. He didn't want to lose anyone else.

_I should've let you drown._

He felt a pang in his chest. The pain was worse than the one in his shoulder. Maybe his friends wouldn't accept him when they would learn about him.

* * *

"What are you going to do now Nami?" Sanji said as he sat next to her.

"I am going to stay with Vivi until Uncle Genzo finishes setting everything for me and Nojiko to go live with him." The girl smiled weakly. If she looked at the situation from a new angle, it was better now. Arlong couldn't hurt her and she knew what happened to her mother. They were going to have her funerals next Saturday, but she preferred not thinking too much about it. It was hard to do so.

"If you need someone to talk to, you can come to me. I can understand what you are going through." Sanji tried to smile, but it was forced. Nami's eyes widened in realization. They had known for a while about Sanji's mother, but he never talked about it. He was the type who would hide his emotions from others. Actually, the three boys in the room were, well, there was also Usopp, but she didn't know him yet. Zoro was really calm and relaxed about everything. Sanji smiled and was charming all the time and Luffy wasn't... truthful. It took her a while to see it, but really thinking about it made her realize Luffy would wear fake smiles and hide everything behind his mask. Even now after getting shot, he was smiling.

It didn't weird her out, make her mad or curious about Luffy, it just made her sad. Sanji, Zoro and Luffy were similar in that way, they would stay strong and keep the pain to themselves.

* * *

A few hours later when the sun had already set, Luffy was sleeping and Ace was sitting next to the bed in silence. He and Sabo didn't dare utter a word since they were worried it would wake the youngest up. He looked so small and fragile on the white hospital bed. His skin was still pale due to the blood loss stress on his body and he was barely moving. The only sign that he was still alive the slow rhythm of his chest rising and falling as he was breathing.

The door creaked open loudly. Ace and Sabo sharply turned their heads to the door and looked who was coming in. They expected a nurse or a doctor, but no.

"Hi, Ace. Is Luffy alright? I got a call telling me he was here." His voice was soft and considerate. The eldest brother had never heard this man talk with so much concern.

"Yes... He will be able to leave tomorrow or the day after since nothing serious was damaged. Still, they don't want him to move too much because of the stitches and want to make a few check ups before he leaves." Ace's words were sharp and said really quickly. He hadn't thought anyone else would come today and the man's visit was a real surprise.

The man sighed. "You know I care about you two." Ace's eyes narrowed.

"You have an odd way of showing your affection." He returned his gaze to Luffy's sleeping form. " Luffy and I will soon be able to live without having to deal with any of you. We will cut you both out of our lives for good like you always wanted." The man took a large breath.

"I never wanted that and he probably doesn't either." Ace looked angrier and angrier by the second.

"Then why isn't he here?"

"Ace. I don't think he did anything wrong. Give your grandfather a chance." Sabo spoke. Ace sighed and nodded.

"I can forgive you, Garp, I could even consider you part of mine and Luffy's family, but not Dragon. He was never a father to him." Garp lifted his eyes to meet with Ace's with a severe stare.

"He has been. Only once."

It was true. Dragon had been a father to Luffy only once in his life before he started glaring at him like he was a demon or a freak of nature. Luffy had almost drowned and he had jumped in the ocean's salty water the second he heard Luffy shouting. Now he would rather say he regretted doing that. Something had changed that day. He didn't know if it was Luffy, Dragon or both, but they never were the same. Every time he had a nightmare, Luffy asked for help, but Dragon sent Ace to do it for him. Every time Luffy smiled at him, his father would look down with a disgusted or disappointed glare at his only blood-related son.

Luffy deserved a father and Dragon had never been one. It wasn't really surprising he didn't come to see Luffy when he was in the hospital if he ever knew.

Garp sat next to the bed near Luffy and Ace.

"Ace... Make sure he doesn't die. I don't want him to die. Dragon probably doesn't want that either, I am sure. He is just scared." Ace frowned.

"Scared?"

"Just promise me you and Luffy won't die. I want you both to live." Ace nodded stiffly and the old man took a big breath before he sat up and walked out of the room, leaving the startled Ace behind.

"Your grandfather is a good man with a good heart. I don't know if I can say as much of your father." Sabo said thoughtfully.

"He is not mine or Luffy's father. Please don't bring it up when he will wake up." Ace said before he started passing a hand through Luffy's wild and tangled hair.

"Got it." And they didn't speak again for the rest of the night.


	9. Life goes on

When Luffy woke up the next morning, there was a doctor in the room telling him a few things about what to do and not do in the next few days and Sabo who was listening as well, since the blond was sure Luffy wasn't really paying attention. The raven-haired boy was shifting in the bed and seemed ready to bolt out of the room the minute the doctor had said he would be released today, but he had to wait for the check up to be sure.

Sitting in a little white room all day was extremely boring, Even if Sabo was with him to chat a bit. The doctor left and a nurse helped him out of the bed since his legs had enough rest and his ankle had turned out okay, he was admitted to go eat in the hospital's cafeteria instead of in his room. Sabo followed Luffy there and they went to get Luffy some food.

"What are you going to do now?" Sabo started. Luffy's eyebrow perked up, but aside from that, he didn't show any sign that he was listening.

"You helped Nami and Usopp get better, who are you going to help next? Zoro? Sanji? Vivi? Well, Vivi seems fine, but hey, we never know." Luffy looked at Sabo and sighed.

"I don't know. Sanji doesn't trust me yet and Zoro is very cut off from the others, he won't open up to me. All I know from his situation is what Kuina told us, I need to get it from him so he would let me help him." The nurse looked at Luffy from farther away with a small frown and went away to another patient.

"Well, you could still just hang out and try to get closer to them for now." Luffy smiled.

"Yeah, I will wait and see..." Luffy ate his breakfast and returned to his room. He tumbled a few times as he walked, but he was mostly okay, just a bit tired.

When he reached his room, an old woman was waiting ready to give the boy his check up.

"Okay boy, it's not gonna take long if you listen well so sit down and don't move. I am doctor Kureha." Luffy nodded and sat on the bed. Sabo was sitting on a chair near the window while doctor Kureha was doing multiple tests and chuckled when he saw Luffy's uncomfortable face, making the younger teen glare at him. When they had finished, the nurse who had helped Luffy out of his room said a few things to the doctor in a very hushed voice and the doctor nodded before returning to Luffy.

"Everything seems fine, your big brother is going to come fetch you later and you will be able to leave." Sabo frowned at the doctor. He knew she wasn't saying everything.

* * *

"You are saying my brother's tests results came out fine, so, what's wrong with him?" Ace asked the doctor Kureha as she had asked him to talk about Luffy a bit before they left.

"Physically, he is perfectly fine, but a nurse told me he has been speaking alone to himself. We can't say anything for sure, but it may be some kind of Post-traumatic stress disorder or most likely schizophrenia. We want to know for sure so we would like for him to come back Friday after his school day. We also want to know if he was like that before or if it was caused by the incident." Ace looked at the doctor and thought about what he would say for a few seconds.

"It's normal, my little brother... thinks out loud sometimes. It helps him think better or something like that, he says." The doctor nodded with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I just wanted to make sure the boy is alright." Ace shrugged.

"Luffy doesn't show any signs of depression, anxiety doesn't show any strange behaviors and doesn't have any episodes. He seems to be happier than he has ever been in his life these past few days actually." Ace said mechanically as he stared at the doctor straight in the eyes.

"He has been shot. I don't think it's the happiest few days of his life." The doctor deadpanned. The only way for the eldest brother to not be lying would be if Luffy's life sucked, she thought. She would be half right. Luffy didn't have the worst life ever, some faiths were way more brutal or sad, but Luffy had friends now and that made him happy.

"Well, did he seem sad?" Now that the doctor thought about it, Luffy had been smiling non-stop since he had woken up. He hadn't cried or screamed, not even once. Aside from the few hisses when the pain in his wound came back harshly, Luffy had been a ray of sunshine. The doctor's eyes widened a bit. Ace looked at the doctor who was still stuck in her thoughts for a few seconds before he turned around towards the door.

Ace smiled as he went to Luffy in his room. He was sitting on his bed, dangling his feet as he waited for Ace to come. Sabo had been looking through the window as he had come in.

"Lets go."

* * *

As they entered their house, Ace smacked the back of Luffy's head.

"-Ow! What was that for?" The boy was rubbing the back of his head when Ace sighed.

"Don't talk to Sabo in public idiot! The nurse was convinced you had a mental condition!" Luffy huffed and sat on the couch.

"I won't do it again... Happy?" Luffy crossed his arms as he said that and hissed before putting his arms back on his side.

"Try to not hurt yourself too."

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy came back to normal after that, well, as normal as it could be for the three trouble makers. Luffy was practicing his telekinesis from time to time when he wasn't at school, Ace was going to work and talking to Marco about the whole incident and Sabo followed the two boys everywhere they went. The rest of the week had been calm. Luffy was healing slowly, Zoro seemed more tired than before, Nami was absent Monday, Tuesday a Wednesday since she was moving into a new house and trying to mourn, Sanji had stopped being suspicious of Luffy for a few days since he was trying to get Nami to feel better, Usopp had changed school and joined theirs and Vivi was also trying to support Nami. It had been a hard task, but the orange haired teen looked better now. They had all agreed to go to Bellemere's funerals.

* * *

There, the air was heavy and everyone seemed sad. Luffy was wearing a black suit and was standing next to Nami. The girl was crying openly now. Looking at the coffin while it was slowly descending into the earth was painful. Luffy looked up at the priest who was talking next to the tombstone. He recognized the man. He was one of the priests who had tried to 'cure' Luffy a few years ago. They had tried to exorcise him and a few other things, he was pretty sure the priest wanted to kill him at some point but hadn't succeeded.

The raven-haired teen glanced back at the coffin quickly. He didn't want to be recognized here. Sabo seemed to have a similar reaction to the man, he was startled and looked back down. So Sabo had gone through that hell too...

Bellemere was standing in front of her two daughters and kneeled. Her eyes were full of tears like theirs, but she was wearing a smile.

"I am so happy." Bellemere tried to reach for the two girls but passed through. "You are both so strong and beautiful. You will be able to make your dreams come true, whatever it may be."

She stood and came in front of Luffy. "Watch over them for me, please. Thank you for everything." Luffy's chest tightened. Tears gathered in his eyes as he heard her words. He looked up at the woman who was smiling at her two daughters with so much love. Her image was slowly fading away until she disappeared completely.

"Promise."

From a bit farther away, Luffy heard a sound. In the cemetery, up the ahead was a cliff. From the cliff, you could see the ocean. The water was a deep navy blue and the Sky was light and devoid of clouds today. The air was a bit chill today, but nobody minded. The sound was actually a song. Looking out at the ocean was a tall man holding a violin. It was an old song that sailors used to sing a long time ago. The sound of the violin was slow and soft as if the violinist was trying to soothe everyone's mind for the funeral. There were only two small things that were wrong about this. Only Ace, Sabo and Luffy could hear the violin and the violinist's fingers, as Luffy saw from far away, were only bones.

Still, the song brought even more tears to the three boys who could hear it. It was filled with so much sadness and, at the same time, so much hope that they felt as if they were lost in the sea of their own thoughts.

The song ended and everyone started leaving. Nami and Nojiko stayed at the grave with their Uncle for a little while. The other teens from their little group of friends stayed by her side, except Luffy who followed Ace a bit farther away in the cemetery.

They walked until they came across two graves placed next to each other

**Portgas D. Rouge**

**Gol D. Roger**

They looked at the graves for a few minutes before continuing on their path until they came across the grave they had been looking for. Sabo looked at the grave with an expression devoid of emotions. Ace bit his lips. Luffy pulled his big brother into a hug.

**Outlook Sabo**

Ace walked closer to the grave. He pressed his hand against the cold stone and caressed it, passing his fingers over each letter forming Sabo's name.

"This is depressing, can you guys just stop? You don't have to rub it in!" Sabo said as he looked at the words carved in the stone in front of him. That was where his body rested and would rest for the rest of eternity.

It was hard for every spirit to be facing the hard reality that they were dead now. Especially the ones who were following someone else like a guardian angel, like Sabo and Kuina. Those were convinced that they still had something to achieve. They were certain That they couldn't leave a particular person alone. Those spirits were scared of leaving. They were scared of facing the reality too. They were trapped, but most of them ignored it and tried to do something. Help, watch over their important person to make sure he or she would stay safe.

"Sabo."

"What?"

"You're the idiot."

"Huh?" Sabo looked at his best friend with a confused expression.

"You keep saying you are the smart one, but you're the idiot. Did you really think I could ever forget you?" Ace's fingers stilled on the S of Sabo's name.

"I just wanted you to get back on your feet fast and move on," Sabo said as he looked down.

"Move on? You are not making this easy for me." He chuckled.

"Who is that?" Sanji said as he came closer to the two brothers. He had come there to visit his mother's grave, but Sora's and Sabo's grave were close. He had seen the two brothers and inspected the tombstone they were standing close too. Luffy looked up at the blond with a sad smile.

"Sabo is very nice. He is always there to help. He worries a lot all the time too." Sanji furrowed his brows a bit at Luffy's choice of verb tense. Wasn't Sabo dead?

"He's my best friend." Sabo looked startled. It wasn't the first time he heard Ace say that. They had been best friends since they first met, pretty much. But the way Ace had said it was filled with fondness and all the affection the young adult could muster. Sabo's chest suddenly felt warm, the opposite of the cold feeling he had when someone passed through him. It was nice.

Zoro and Usopp had joined with them, leaving Vivi to stay with Nami. They had each took a minute to go see the graves of the people dear to them. Kuina, Sora, Kaya, Sabo. Kuina was holding back her tears as she followed Zoro in the cemetery. They all said their goodbyes for the day and started to leave. Sanji threw one last glance at the two brothers and the grave. Whatever secret Luffy was hiding, this Sabo was probably involved. Ace too.

* * *

Ace and Luffy were walking home with a gloomy expression. Sabo wasn't any better too. They were all feeling heavy from their day and were glad it was coming to an end. As if.

As if.

The second the two brothers entered the house, they were welcomed with a strong hit on the head.

"Damn grandson! You should have told me sooner Luffy had been released from the hospital!" The two started rubbing their heads and Luffy hissed as he put a hand over his shoulder.

Ace stared at the old man. He was nothing like the man he had seen a little less than a week ago, He was back to the ruthless army vice-admiral who could only show his affection through punches and other forms of physical violence, his most famous move being his so-called fist of love. In reality, neither Ace nor Luffy really felt the 'love' infused in the punch, they only felt the bump that was growing on their heads.

"Why are you here shitty old geezer?" Ace barked as he entered the apartment and started loosening his black tie.

"Call me grampa you ungrateful child!" The youngest's eyes looked deep inside the eldest's. Monkey D. Garp, his monstrously strong grandfather seemed so fragile. His tone seemed fake and his punches had been softer than they had ever been. He was in pain, but not physical pain. His eyes seemed to be searching for any sign of acceptance from the two brothers. Above all, he was in deep sorrow.

Luffy wanted to forgive him. It would be easy to say those words. 'I forgive you'. It was only three short words that would soothe the man in front of him and let him leave with a mind at peace. However, it turned out to be so hard to actually put meaning in any of those three words. Saying I forgive you and actually forgiving Garp were two different things. He had to mean it if he wanted it to matter.

"Why did you come here now?" Luffy's words were filled with judgment and had made Ace, Sabo and Garp shiver at the coldness of his tone. His eyes were empty and his whole body was still. Garp gulped silently and looked down.

"I was worried."

"Like I can believe that. You don't 'worry'." Luffy's words cut like a knife inside Garp's chest. Ace had never seen his little brother be so cold and unloving towards anyone. Even when Dragon visited for a few hours three or four times a year, Luffy usually stayed locked in his room or didn't look at his father in the eyes. The older boy started believing Luffy had suffered more than he thought.

"I wanted to do something, I can assure you, but my son didn't want to hear any of it." The old man sat on a chair from the dining room and sighed.

Luffy glared at him in annoyance and anger. "Well?! Why didn't you?! You knew, why didn't you do anything?" The blond and the raven looked lost. The youngest brother hated the old man in front of them, despite the fact that he didn't hate anything or anyone. He had confessed once to Ace that he couldn't even hate his father for leaving him. Why? It was a question for another day. Luffy, right now, was looking at his grandfather with a look he had never seen him give to anyone. The message was clear.

_You are dead to me._

Garp had come to them 5 times in total since Dragon had left and the brothers had started living in an apartment, counting a week prior and this very day. The three other times, Luffy hadn't talked at all to him, if he ever looked at him. Whereas he didn't look his father in the eyes in shame, he didn't look his grandfather in the eyes since he was so mad at him. He hated him.

"There isn't much I could've done."

"I told you. You said you believed me. You said you would help. Still, you didn't do anything." Sabo shook his head in disbelief.

"No... Did... Did Garp know about Luffy's ability?" Ace's eyes widened.

"Really? You knew?" Luffy's glare intensified

* * *

_"Grampa... Why are they always suffering? Why are the people suffering? They cry and yell, but nobody tries to help them! Why don't people try to help them?" Garp looked up at the small boy perched on his shoulders._

_"Who are you talking about?" Luffy pointed to a spirit on the other side of the road, but the older man couldn't see anything._

_"The man over there looks lost, there's a hole in his head." Garp stopped walking._

_"A hole in his head?"_

_He could only assume the worst. "Luffy, can you see people who are suffering all the time?" Luffy nodded as he glanced at the lost man on the other side of the road._

_"Don't tell anyone about it." The boy nodded again before he stopped._

_"What about Ace?" Garp shook his head._

_"Not even Ace, he wouldn't understand." The little boy nodded sadly._

* * *

"I knew."

"You promised to do something about it, to help me, but you didn't!" Garp brought a hand to his face.

"How am I suppose to protect you from something I can't even see?" Luffy growled in frustration.

" I don't care about the poltergeist! It hurt back then but it doesn't hurt anymore! You didn't do anything about my father! When he left, I felt alone and scared, I thought you would help since you knew, but you left too! You didn't say anything! You just stood there while he was telling me I should've died! I thought you were going to help me!" Ace walked to his little brother without thinking and pulled him into his chest.

"I never expected anything from my father since he never promised me anything, but you promised I wouldn't have to go through this alone! Who cares about a few scratches left by a lost soul who can't do anything aside from suffering, being alone is far more painful than getting hurt!"

"I am sorry."

The room fell into complete silence. While Sabo was trying to form an accurate opinion of Garp, Ace and Luffy were trying to process the three small words Garp had pronounced. Never had they heard the man say those three words together in a sentence in that order. Never had they heard the man apologize. Three small words that were so easy to say, but meant nothing if there was no meaning behind each word. Three words that were so hard to say and mean it. Accept our wrong doing was really hard for a man as stubborn as Garp. But he did say it. He did mean it. And it mattered.

"I forgive you."


	10. One particular ghost story

A few weeks have passed since the Arlong incident. Nami and Nojiko have moved in with their Uncle Genzo and Usopp joined the group in their school. The six teens had become even closer and hung out all the time, supporting each other in a hard time, like what Nami had been through at her mother's funeral. Zoro and Sanji were both having a hard time at home, but the medium of the group didn't know how he could help yet. Kuina and he had talked a few times about it, Sometimes with Sabo too, but they couldn't find a solution.

For Sanji's case, it was even harder. He had to make sure Sanji trusted him before trying anything. He would hardly talk about his family, if ever, and changed the subject when it came out.

They had planned to go at Luffy's place for a sleepover for Halloween and watch a few horror movies. Luffy was decorating the house with Ace. His friends would arrive in a few hours.

"Ace! Check this out!" He lifted one of his arms in the air and brought the other one to his temple. Luffy narrowed his eyes at a pumpkin. Ace chuckled as the boy made silly faces as he tried concentrating.

"Stop laughing!" He took his stance again and lifted his arm. The pumpkin followed his gesture. Luffy smiled and started making the pumpkin spin.

"Good..." Ace said with an unimpressed shrug. Luffy rolled his eyes.

"That was really good Luffy! You got even better than last week!" Luffy at Sabo's praise.

"You see, Sabo is nicer than you!" He stuck his tongue at his older brother who took a fake hurt look and continued decorating with a smirk.

The two ravens continued their task while the blond spirit tried, and failed, to grasp any object to be of any help. Luffy was making things float around and tried to control it the best he could, but he was still learning how to do it. Ace could see Sabo more clearly now than before without concentrating too much. Instead of the blurry silhouette, he had in the beginning of the month, he sees Sabo clearly, even if the details of his figure were not very refined. Nevertheless, every time his eyes landed on Sabo's stab wound, he flinched and clenched his fists subtly, not that the ghost hadn't noticed his best friend's small tics.

"I am going to go buy some snacks for me and my friends, are you going to be fine on your own for the decorations?" Luffy said as he put on his coat.

"Hey, I am here too!" The blond said.

Ace rolled his eyes. "You are literally a dead-weight."

Sabo stuck his tongue at Ace and Luffy chuckled. "I am coming back soon!" Then, he bolted out of the room with his bag to the closest shop to get snacks.

"Are you going to stay here tonight or are you going to that party at your work?" Ace smiles as he hung the last decoration.

"I am probably gonna go, Luffy's not a kid anymore. He can stay at the apartment without me without trashing it." Sabo chuckled.

"What?"

"I would be more worried about you trashing it!" Ace shook his head and threw a small plastic ghost at his friend, only for it to pass through him. Sabo looked behind him at Ace's pathetic attempt to bug him and giggled.

"You know, this is kind of offensive, we don't go around with blankets over our heads." Ace shrugged.

"Well, I think it looks exactly like you." He said smugly.

Sabo took a few steps back and pointed at a green-faced decorating witch on the wall. "Well, I think that looks exactly like you."

"... Well, you are a dork." They both looked at each other, not really capable of finding better insults when they both started laughing. They hadn't laughed together that much for a long while and the two best friends couldn't help but think they were really happy right now. They shared a bond that even death couldn't break and it made them feel so warm to think of that.

The doorbell rang and both of their heads snapped to the front door. "Do you think Luffy forgot his keys?" Ace shook his head.

"Highly unlikely. It's probably one of his friends." Ace went to open the door only to see Luffy's green haired friend Zoro and could sense a second faint presence following him that he assumed to be Kuina.

"Come in, Luffy went to buy some snacks, he'll be back soon, but you are a bit early." Zoro rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I didn't want to get lost so I left early, but I got here easily..." Sabo's eyes were focused on the green-haired teen. He knew there was a bit more to it than just that. Kuina looked at Sabo and saw his expression. She bit her lips and nodded, conforming his theory. Zoro didn't want to stay at his home an extra minute with how bad his parents were these days.

"Well, make yourself at home, Luffy won't take much longer."

While this was happening, at the grocery shop, Luffy was walking down the isles until he bumped into Sanji. The two looked surprised then smiled.

"Hey, what are you doing here Sanji?" The blond pointed his basket.

"I have been shopping for snacks for tonight, knowing you, you only thought of buying meat and sweets." He chuckled as Luffy hid his own basket behind his back and looked away, a bit red in the face.

"... I didn't buy only meat and sweets, I bought chips and popcorn too, those are salty, not sweet." Over the few weeks, since they had expanded their group, Luffy had opened up a bit more to them. He had been less shy and more himself. The more the time passed, the more of a happy go lucky goofball he had been. He would smile more often and get excited over small things. His quirks and cheerful personality had warmed all of their hearts through their own tough times. He had also proven that he liked to eat. A lot. It was a mystery in itself that Luffy was still healthy and wasn't monstrously fat, but they had theorized Ace was trying to help him follow a healthier diet that included vegetables and fruits.

"Well, do you want to finish shopping together and head directly to your place?" Luffy smiled and nodded. The blond teen had been less guarded around him and it was a huge improvement, however, he would still, from time to time, throw him one of his looks of suspicion or confusion, like he was trying to read Luffy and it could make the young psychic uncomfortable.

"Good idea!" The two teens continued shopping together for a little while until they were done and started to head back at Luffy's and Ace's apartment.

"Hiya Ace, I am home! I met Sanji at the store, so he is early." They entered the house and noticed Ace and Zoro were talking in the living room.

"Zoro! How long have you been there?" The green-haired teen stood up and walked to his two friends who had just come in.

"Around ten minutes, not too long." Ace looked up at the trio and frowned.

"Where are your costumes?" The three of them were in casual clothing and were sitting on the couch like it was totally normal to look normal on Halloween.

"We didn't want to dress up," Sanji said as he shrugged.

Ace looked flabbergasted. "How can you not want to dress up at Halloween? Is it because you think you are teenagers now and are 'too old to dress up'? Guess what, at my grown up party, everyone has a costume." He added smugly. Luffy laughed.

"Don't call it a 'grown up party', everyone at your work is overgrown 9-year-old!" It wasn't exactly true, but the few people Luffy had actually met weren't the best examples of maturity.

"Whatever, I am going now." He waved.

"Wait is Sab- is he going with you?" Sanji blinked at Luffy's hesitation.

"Dunno, I'll ask him." Sabo turned to Luffy.

"Yeah, I will, have fun with your friends." Luffy smiled and took the bags in the kitchen.

"See you later then!"

"Have fun!"

* * *

A few hours later, when Vivi, Nami and Usopp had joined the group, they had settled on the couch and on a few mattresses they had taken to the living room in a mess of pillows, blankets and bowls of different snacks as they watched a few horror movies. Usopp always shrieked in terror, Sanji was keeping Nami and Vivi close as they both hung onto him every time there was something scary coming on, Zoro was looking like he was enjoying the movie and Luffy, he was just pouting.

"This movie wasn't realistic at all." Luffy blurted when the generic started. Vivi had stood to switch on the lights before she started cleaning up a bit.

"It's a movie, of course, it's not realistic and ghosts don't exist," Nami said as she rolled her eyes at the other teen.

"Nah, I didn't have a problem with the ghost part, it's the characters. They are pretty stupid." Zoro lifted an eyebrow.

"What makes you say that?" Luffy sighed.

"Well, first of all, they should have never been there, to begin with, the place looks like there have been several murders in there which screams haunted. Second, hear a scary noise and you know none of your friends made it, you don't start yelling and asking who's there while flashing your light around, you get out as soon as you can or you take off the light and hide. Third, you should never stray from the group and be alone, that is just asking to get killed. Fourth you don't make out while your death is imminent, you try to find a way to save your skin, fifth-" Usopp cut him.

"I think we get it. You don't like horror movies." Luffy laughed.

"I like good horror movies, not that. Hey, how about we tell each other scary stories?" Luffy said with a dangerous grin.

"That could be fun," Sanji said as he helped Vivi clear up the living room a bit. They reinstalled the mattresses in Luffy's room, where they were all going to sleep and Luffy closed the curtains, the lights, and the doors before taking his flashlight. They were all huddled up in a circle on the two large mattresses they had brought closer together. Luffy grinned.

"Who wants to go first?" Vivi lifted her hand to take the flashlight.

"I will. It's not really scary, but some people swear it's true."

They all came a bit closer.

"A long time ago, there was a man who was sailing the seas. He would always come back to his country on the other side of the ocean to play the violin for his beloved. Would it be night or day, the sailor sang his song in the hope his beloved could hear it from anywhere in the world. However, one faithful day, his crew met its demise in a storm, never to be seen again. The wreckage of the ship found it's way to our coast. Sometimes, when you walk in the cemetery, you can hear the violinist play his violin to his beloved, trying to reach her beyond the ocean."

Nami smiled. "I heard that story, it's actually an old legend that is pretty famous."

Luffy was looking at the blue haired girl with wide eyes, even if he couldn't see well in the dark. Maybe the ghost who was always haunting the cemetery was the one from this legend?

"So, who's going next?" Usopp took the flashlight and brought it under his chin.

"It was a Halloween night, exactly like this one." He took a low voice and tried to sound scary, but the rest of the group only chuckled.

"A group of teenagers was hanging out like everything was okay and normal... But things weren't normal that night." Usopp closed the flashlight and started talking in a voice close to a whisper.

"They were having fun, eating snacks, watching horror movies and telling each other scary stories when suddenly..."

Usopp stood up and started talking really loudly. "A MAN WITH A CHAINSAW CAME FROM THE WINDOW AND KILLED THEM ALL! THEN ZOMBIES CAME FROM THE FRONT DOOR TO EAT THEIR BRAINS! THEN MONSTERS CAME OUT OF THE CLOSET AND FROM UNDER THE BED TO SCARE THEM TO DEATH!"

Zoro shrugged. "How can the monsters scare them to death if they were already killed by a chainsaw and eaten by zombies?"

Usopp sighed. "I guess the monsters come first, then the zombies... no. The zombies are last. You know what? Forget it. Try to tell a good horror story yourself!" Usopp said playfully as he tossed the flashlight at Zoro.

"Nah, I don't know any good ones. Sanji?" The blond nodded and took the flashlight. To put it under his chin the same way Usopp had done.

"A young boy is sleeping in his bed on a usual night. He hears footsteps outside his door and peeks out of his eyes to see what is happening. His door swings open quietly to reveal a murderer carrying the corpses of his parents. After silently propping them up on a chair, he writes something on the wall in the blood of the dead bodies. He then hides under the child's bed." Usopp started to shake as he listened to Sanji's story.

"The child is scared beyond belief. He can't read the writing on the wall and he knows the man is under his bed. Like any child, he pretends that he slept through the whole thing and hasn't awoken yet. He lays still as the bodies, quietly hearing the breaths from under his bed. An hour passes, and his eyes are adjusting more and more to the darkness. He tries to make out the words, but it's a struggle. He gasps when he finally makes out the sentence." Nami and Vivi shift as they listen to the next words.

"'I know you're awake'. He feels something shift underneath his bed." He closes the flashlight and Usopp yelps.

Luffy chuckles. "I don't think I heard that one before, it's good!"

Usopp looks at him, bewildered. "How can you laugh at a horror story? Those are scary!"

The raven haired teen just shrugs. "These aren't real so they are not scary. I am only scared when there is a real danger."

Sanji scrunted his eyes." Really? Do you have an example?"

"Well... This is the story of how I got my scar."

* * *

_Luffy looked at his closet door with wary eyes. Every night, the scary man would come out of the closet and scream at him and hurt him. The little boy hid behind his covers. He was shaking a lot. All he wanted to do is bolt out of his room and go sleep with Ace since Ace would protect him._

_The closet door started opening slowly. The creaking of its slow movement made the young medium's heart beat go faster and faster with every second._

_"Why can't people just see I am in pain?!" The poltergeist turned his head sharply at Luffy._

_"YOU CAN SEE IT? Why aren't you doing ANYTHING?" He ran to the bed and put his hands around Luffy's neck._

_"Stop... Please..." Luffy's voice was low and mostly cut by the poltergeist's action. The ghost lifted the boy and slammed him against the wall. Luffy's legs were struggling to get free as they dangled in the air._

_"You can see my pain and you are doing nothing. You can see... You see... I won't let you do that. A person like you who does nothing shouldn't be permitted to see at all!" He removed one of his hands from Luffy's neck, letting him breathe a bit better and looked at his hand. His fingernails became a bit sharper as he slowly crept it closer and closer to the boy's face._

_"I'll tear your eyes out." He slid his sharpest fingernail under the boys left eye with a sick smile and cut deep._

_"A...ce... Ace... ACE!" He felt himself fall to the floor and the world became blurry. The sound of his door being opened sharply and footsteps running closer and closer to him came to his ears._

_"What the hell did you do? You are bleeding!" And everything went black._

* * *

"And I never saw the man again." Everyone was silent as they looked at Luffy. Of course, he had modified the original story. Instead of saying a ghost, he had said a runaway from a mental institution and instead of saying he came from his closet, he said the man came from his opened window. Instead of saying sharp fingernails, he had said knife. Finally, instead of saying the man came back every night, he said he never saw him again.

"You are lying!" Usopp said as he was clutching to an annoyed green haired man and shaking. Kuina looked at Zoro's expression and started laughing.

"That isn't possible, it only happens in the movies," Nami said, almost equally terrified as the curly-haired teen.

"It's true, but if you don't believe me, I don't mind," Luffy said as he chuckled. Sanji was wearing a perplexed expression. He knew the story was false, but he couldn't help but think it wasn't entirely false by the way Luffy's eyes would shift and twitch while he was telling the story. Like he was remembering something awful.

"Well, I think we are done for tonight right guys?" Vivi said softly. They all nodded and started getting ready for bed. It was a bit after midnight and if they wanted to hang out tomorrow- well, today, they would need to be able to wake up.

As they all went to bed, Luffy smiled. It was relieving to confess this story to someone, even if it wasn't the entire truth. They would know probably, one day, the real story, he thought.


	11. Making it a little better

"What am I suppose to do? Sanji is his best friend, not me!" Luffy said frantically. Kuina had come to their apartment with a startled expression. Sabo was sitting at the counter, deep in thoughts and Ace was trying to follow the conversation even if it was hard since he couldn't see or hear Kuina clearly.

"I don't know, Zoro's parents fought a lot before, but they never hit him! This has been going on for too long!" Luffy looked at the ground.

"Maybe he doesn't want any help..." The blue-haired spirit gave the medium a dirty look.

"Of course he needs help! He is not happy in this situation." Luffy sighed.

"What I mean is that he didn't reach out for any of us for help, he probably wants to deal with this himself!" The girl rolled her eyes.

"Of course he won't reach out for help, that idiot has too much pride to do that, unless he is about to die and can't do anything about it because he is incapacitated or tied up, he will not get help, that is why I am asking you!" Sabo stood.

"Maybe if you start trusting them, they will trust you back." Luffy shook his head, eyes wide.

"I can't... they'll... hate me." He bit his lips. He hadn't felt that kind of fear since he had started thinking about telling Ace about his ability. The fear of being rejected by someone... some people you care deeply about. He had taken a chance by telling his brother, but he had believed Ace wouldn't leave him alone. He couldn't take such a risk with his friends, he already knew Sanji would leave him. Zoro might not care really, but seeing him and Sanji were close friends even if they fought sometimes, he would leave too. Usopp would be scared of him from now on. Nami wouldn't believe him and start treating him as a liar or a crazy person. Vivi would probably try to be friendly and see it from his perspective, make everyone stay friends and try to be sure everyone is alright, but she wouldn't be able to fix the psychic boy's heart.

"But, if they don't start hating you, your friendship will only become stronger. That is how it went for me." Sabo smiled warmly at the young medium and then looked up at his best friend. Ace chuckled.

"It's true, Sabo and I were always there for each other after that..." His face darkened. "...Except once..." He muttered. The blond spirit tensed, even if he pretended he hadn't heard the last two words the eldest had spoken.

"Ace was like a brother to me, more than my 'real brother' Stelly ever was, I bet your friends would be the same." Luffy shook his head again.

"You both can be wrong sometimes and I can't go through that again!" The temperature in the room dropped suddenly, making Ace shiver as he was standing in the house without a shirt on. Luffy didn't even seem to notice.

"What if... What if they reject me?" The lights in the house started to give out one at a time.

"Worse, what if they are like my father?!" A lightbulb exploded right over the boys head. Ace sprinted to Luffy's side and took the boy in his arms.

"It's okay... Don't worry... We'll make sure they understand well." The youngest boy's stiff muscles relaxed until he hugged his brother back. The temperature in the room got back to normal and Sabo chuckled nervously.

"Sorry to break the moment but you have a bunch of light bulbs to change, better start now. You should try and understand how to control your outbursts or your friends are going to find out without you telling them." The blond spirit walked up to the two of them and sighed.

"Just... Consider it as one of the solutions we could use to that problem. You don't have to tell your friends today or tomorrow, but they deserve to know. It will happen, even if you don't want it to."

Ace nodded and headed took a box out of a closet in the entrance. The first time Luffy had started making the lights flicker a few weeks prior, Ace had gone to the store to buy a big supply of light bulbs in case Luffy started losing control. It didn't happen often, but Luffy had some abandonment and trust issues for numerous reasons since he was young and when approaching those touchy subjects, he tended to react badly.

The young medium looked down at the floor then at Kuina. "I'll get Zoro to talk to me or Sanji at least." The blue haired spirit smiled and nodded. It was a sad smile and she still seemed really worried, but it was better than before.

* * *

"Hi, guys!" The little group always came early in the morning to school to have some time to hang out. Luffy waltzed past the front gate to join his friends who were sitting on a bench under a leafless tree They were all huddled up, trying to stay warm.

"Hey, Luffy! We were waiting for you to come so we could wait inside." Usopp said as he adjusted his scarf around his neck. Luffy giggled.

"You guys are so sensitive to cold! 2 degrees isn't that bad!"  _(A.N.: I am talking about celsius)_ Zoro huffed.

"I am not cold." Vivi started shaking.

"Well, I think we should go inside, we didn't dress properly for the weather, there is a lot of wind too." Sanji looked at the girls shaking form and took off his vest to put it on her shoulders.

"Are you alright like this?" Vivi smiled and Nami rolled her eyes.

"Don't complain if you get sick."While Nami said this, Zoro smirked.

"Yeah, we wouldn't have to see your annoying face at school for a while." Sanji laughed quietly.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't have to see yours."

"Would you two stop? We are going inside and, for the record, we all know you would miss each other too much so you better not get sick Sanji!" Nami said in an annoyed tone as she dragged the two inside, followed closely by Vivi, Usopp and Luffy. Luffy looked back and his gazed locked with Kuina's, who had stayed with the group since Zoro had arrived. His smile fell slightly and transformed into a determined expression. He nodded his head to the spirit and ran back to join his friends in the school's cafeteria.

As he came closer to his friends, he smiled. Vivi took a mildly large thermos out of her bag and six cups and put them on the table. She always thought about everyone when she would do... well... anything really. This morning, seeing it was a cold November day, she had prepared hot chocolate for the group. She would often bring things to eat or drink in the morning before school, Sanji would do it too, once in a while. The blond had found out his green-haired friend often skipped breakfast before going to school and had seemed outraged after hearing it. Actually, Zoro didn't leave his room in the morning until he left the house since his father would be hungover in the morning and he simply didn't want to breathe the same air as him and seeing him when he was like that. The young teen preferred his solitude after he woke up.

"Luffy, do you want some?" To boy smiled widely and nodded, taking the cup Vivi offered him. As he drank, the medium gazed at Zoro. He looked like he always did, except the fact that he wore long sleeves. Even on the coldest days, Zoro would wear the short sleeved uniform or at least roll them up, but right now, they were covering his arms and wrists. This only confirmed what Kuina said the night before and he didn't like it at all. Finishing his cup, Luffy walked to the green-haired boy.

"Can I talk to you alone for a second please?" That sentence took everyone's attention. It wasn't often that any of them felt the need to talk to anyone else in the group in private. Maybe Vivi and Nami would sometimes do so to talk about 'girl stuff' as they dubbed it or Usopp would pull Luffy aside to talk about Kaya a bit, but aside from that, it was really rare. Nami had already noticed Sanji was always suspicious of Luffy's behavior, and she had started asking herself questions about the onyx-haired boy after the events with Arlong.

"Okay." The two boys left the cafeteria and walked into the boy's bathroom. There wasn't anyone else, it was still early, so the two could talk without anyone around.

"What is it?" Luffy looked at Zoro in the eyes and gripped his forearm with one hand, making Zoro wince.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Without saying anything, Luffy pushed up Zoro's sleeve, revealing dark spots on his skin. The two didn't move, looking at each other with a hard glare straight in the eyes.

"What do you want me to say?" Zoro finally said as he unrolled his sleeve to cover the bruises, his voice devoid of any emotion. Luffy didn't flinch.

"I want you to talk about this." Zoro's eyes narrowed.

"You don't tell anyone about yourself, why would I tell you anything?" Zoro's words hit the medium like a punch, but he still didn't waver. He had known the green-haired teen would say this.

"I will tell you one thing about me and you promise to talk to Sanji about those marks." Zoro's eyes widened slightly and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Why Sanji? You don't want me to tell you?"

"I know you won't tell me and Sanji is your best friend." Zoro looked down at his sleeve, then back at Luffy. This was something none of them had the occasion to do yet. Learn about him. They had asked a few times about unspecific things, but the raven never answered truthfully, most of the time, he would change the subjects.

"So?" Zoro sighed.

"I will talk to Sanji."

"Okay. What do you want to know?"

"Tell me, tell me about your parents? You and Ace are always alone in your apartment." Zoro asked curiously. He knew this could easily be a touchy subject, maybe they were dead or worst, but he didn't really care. Luffy wasn't the kind of person who would break out in tears because of his parent's absence, hell, Luffy got shot and he was still idiotically happy afterward.

"They left, well, my parents did. Ace's parents died and my father adopted him into our family when I was a baby. They come by the house a few times a year, but they never stay for long. My father can't really be around me without wanting to puke I think. My mother mostly just follows him around the world." The air around them started getting cold. Zoro shivered. Luffy's eyes seemed almost... Dead.

"I bet he wouldn't care if I died. Actually, he would probably be relieved. He already told me he would've preferred if I had drowned when I was young... but it doesn't really matter." Luffy regained a fake smile and the room came back to a normal temperature. "So, you are going to talk to Sanji now or after class?"

Zoro was frozen in place. He looked at Luffy and knew he said the truth, which only made his words even harder to listen to. He thought he had it hard with his family before, but after seeing Nami's situation and hearing Luffy's, he couldn't help but think he had nothing to complain about.

"I'll... talk to him soon."

* * *

Sanji had seen Zoro looked startled for a few minute when he had come back from his talk with Luffy. Nevertheless, Zoro quickly went back to being himself. The blond couldn't help being really curious about what Luffy had said, however, he wouldn't pray on the two of them to know since it was a private conversation.

The little group went to their classes as usual and reunited at lunch time in the cafeteria. After they had eaten, Zoro pulled Sanji aside.

" Can I talk to you?" The two teens weren't the most touchy-feely people and Sanji would've mocked his friend for such a request if it wasn't for Zoro's serious expression plastered on his face. He seemed in a hurry to get something off his chest too.

"Yeah sure."

When they were alone, Zoro rolled up his sleeves, showing the horrid marks on his skin. Sanji stayed quiet as he inspected them.

"Your father?" Zoro didn't say anything, but he looked into Sanji's eyes with a questioning glance.

"Of course I know it's him. I've seen him enough times to know he's an ass and drunk all the time." Zoro shook his head with a silent huff.

"This is ridiculous... I feel so weak." He chuckled lightly.

"At least I am happy you aren't keeping this to yourself... When did it start?"

"A few days ago... But he hits harder every time. It's not too bad for now. I don't have it half as bad as some other people."

"Well, Nami is fine now, her uncle is a good person." Zoro shook his head.

"I am not talking about her, I am talking about you and Luffy dumbass." Sanji froze. Zoro knew about his problem with his family but...

"Luffy actually opened up to you?" That was surprising.

"Yeah, but only if I talked to you about my situation. I won't tell you though, it's his secret to tell, not mine."

"I know, but what about you, what are you going to do about your father?" Zoro shrugged.

Zoro shrugged. "I don't know yet. I just think it's strange how Luffy knew about it right away, I don't think I was that obvious about it and he never met my father, he could've assumed I just fought with a random guy."

"Yeah... He's... perspective, I guess." Sanji said slowly.

"I think he is just trying to help in his own way."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, talking to someone about our troubles... It's just making things... a little better." Sanji smiled.

"We should get back to the others and talk more about it later. Let's go."

* * *

The two boys returned to the group and the rest of the day went by smoothly. They all went back home with a smile on their face, would it be a fake or a real smile depends on each of them individually. Zoro entered his house followed by Kuina, only to be immediately immersed by the smell of alcohol and smoke residing in the air. He slowly made his way to his room, trying to not wake up the man sitting on the couch of the living room, but failed as the floor creaked with every step he made.

The man grunted and stood, his bottle of beer still in his hand.

"I'm out of booze," He said as he turned the bottle upside down and only a single drop came out of it. He turned around toward the kitchen where a Zoro's mother was doing the dishes.

"Woman! Go get some more booze!" He turned back to Zoro, who had started making his way to his room and took him by the collar of his shirt. He didn't flinch, his expression only changed to one of disgust as he was brought close enough to his father's face to smell his breath.

"And you stay here, I got some stress to release." The man put Zoro down and smashed the bottom of his bottle against the table. Zoro stepped back and took a defensive pose. He wasn't exactly scared, but he would be lying if he would say he was completely relaxed. He wasn't the best in hand combat and he couldn't really fight back against his father, consequently making his heart beat go faster.

"I have had enough of this." Fury raged through Kuina's eyes as she stood between Zoro and the man you could hardly consider as his father. The dark blue haired spirit wanted to scream and shout out at this man, curse him to end his days miserable and alone and to be sent to hell afterward. She took the katana she always wore at the waist and raised it in front of her eyes. Her fury against the man rang through her whole body until, for not more than two or three seconds, she was visible to the man's and Zoro's eyes. Just as she did, she lunged at him and slashed at the drunk man's torso. Zoro froze as the man slumped back in pain. Zoro's mother entered the room and shrieked in horror before running straight for the phone at the sight of the blood. The cut wasn't too deep, but the man was grunting in pain on the floor as he tried to understand what had just happened while

Zoro froze as the man slumped back in pain. Zoro's mother entered the room and shrieked in horror before running straight for the phone to call an ambulance at the sight of the blood. The cut wasn't too deep, but the man was grunting in pain on the floor as he tried to understand what had just happened while he tried to stop the blood by putting pressure on his stomach with his hands, even if it wasn't very effective.

As she got off the phone, Zoro's mother turned to the teen.

"What happened?"

"He... He was about to... attack me, but... he stumbled and... hurt himself." Zoro's eyes were still wide and he wasn't sure what he had witnessed. The teen really wanted to believe what he had just said was the truth. If not...

_'Kuina...'_


	12. The first step

The sound of the ambulance resonated in his ears. Paramedics were trying to talk to him, but the teen was completely frozen in place. The world around him was blurry and so far away, the only way to grasp what was happening around him was to listen to the loud sounds all around him, but he couldn't, his attention had been sucked away by the empty space in front of him where a blue-haired girl had been not so long ago. Zoro looked at his father who was being dragged away and at his mother who was half-scared and half-happy the man was being led out of their house.

Someone was trying to talk to him, but he wasn't listening at all. He took a few steps back and entered his room, eyes still wide and unblinking. He closed it behind himself and opened his bag to get his homework like it was a normal day. He wanted to ignore what had just happened. But it wasn't exactly a normal day.

First of all, Zoro would never really do his homework. He would normally train in his room and think, but he needed his mind occupied right now, doing his homework would probably do the job, wouldn't it?

His mother entered the room with a paramedic. They looked at the teen as he was staring at the exercise book in his hands like he had never seen it before and tried to get his attention.

"Zoro, we are going to the hospital to go see your father." The green-haired teen didn't respond.

"Little boy, come with us please." Zoro was still fixated on the book in his hands. He couldn't even read his math problem, his mind was spinning too fast for him to process the words written in black on the sheets.

"Zoro..." He lifted his eyes for them to meet with his mother's. Seeing the pleading expression in her eyes, he nodded and got up without really thinking.

"I'll just call Sanji..." Zoro made his way to the living room and took the phone, dialing his blond friend's number.

_"Hello, this is Judge Vinsmoke, who am I speaking to?"_

"Hello sir, this is Roronoa Zoro, may I speak with your son Sanji?" Zoro said stiffly, his and Sanji's father would be strict most of the time with how you should talk to them.

_"Of course..."_  He waited.  _"Hello, this is Sanji."_

"Sanji... my father is in the hospital."

The swirly-browed teen paused.  _"Did you slash him with your katana? Did you hit him back? Was he drunk and he fell out the stairs? What happened?"_

"I don't know..." Zoro gripped the phone as hard as he could, stopping himself from shaking.

_"You didn't see it happen then?"_

"I saw it happen, I just... don't know what happened. Can you guys come meet me at the hospital please?"

_"Okay, I'll call the others."_ They both hung up.

Zoro went back to the paramedic and his mother. They were both analyzing him to see if he was injured. The teen huffed stiffly before he took his coat and went out the front door. The sound from the ambulance had stopped since it had been driven away from the house not too long ago. Zoro's got out of the house too, right behind him and sighed. She didn't like the father of her single child as much as she had before, but she always thought it was important for a child to grow up with a father.

Now that the man was injured and not herself or Zoro, she couldn't bring herself to feel bad or sad for him. Not even one tear could lodge itself at the corner of her eye. She had no sympathy for him and almost felt bad for being glad he was dragged away from her by that ambulance. She closed her eyes and sighed. It was like a heavy burden on her shoulders had been lifted. Even if it was temporary, the man's absence was appreciated. If only she could always feel as relieved as she was right now. The man had always forced his wishes and his 'law' on her and Zoro. Wouldn't it be better with him out of their life completely?

"Zoro... I think I am getting divorced." Zoro didn't react. He just looked in front of him with empty eyes, still thinking about the blue-haired girl...

* * *

"Damn it Kuina! What the hell did you think you were doing?! You know this is the first step towards becoming a poltergeist!" Sabo shouted angrily as the blue-haired spirit looked at the ground in defeat. Luffy was in the dining room, at the table with his homework, trying to make his pencil levitate over the exercise book to write from farther away while Ace was trying to help him by giving him unhelpful tips. Both of them were eavesdropping on the spirit's conversation though, making Luffy's writing really awful, but he was still getting better and more accurate than before.

"Well, I was mad at that man and I couldn't think of anything else!" She answered half-heartedly as she tried to come up with an excuse. The blond spirit brought a hand to his face and sighed annoyingly.

"Soon, you'll need to cross before you start losing control completely." Kuina looked up at him.

"No! I can keep control over this, I can deal with this myself! I won't hurt people and become a poltergeist, I promise!"

"You can't promise that nobody can control it! We will all have to cross eventually! I will... I..." All the lights in the house turned off and the temperature suddenly dropped.

"Don't finish that sentence." Luffy was standing by the door with a neutral expression. "Ace and I need you."

Nobody spoke for a few seconds. Ace followed him in the room with the same empty eyes.

"... I'm sorry..." Kuina breathed out. Tears were threatening to fall out of her eyes as she grasped the gravity of her situation. " I understand... I will have to leave before I lose control..."

"You are fine for now, this can take months, you know," Sabo said without real energy. "... Just, don't do it again." The lights turned back on and the temperature came back to normal. Luffy's expression lightened up as he walked back to his homework, but Ace stayed behind for a few seconds, staring at his best friend with a saddened smile before turning around and following Luffy back in the living room. The two brothers went back to their earlier psychic ability training and Kuina left the house while Sabo was standing straight, not moving from the spot he had been all this time.

"I won't ever lose control. I can't leave." His voice was soft and almost uncertain, but as he peeked at the two raven haired brothers laughing in the other room, his resolve hardened.

"I can't do that to them. They... are my brothers." He smiled.

* * *

"Zoro, are you alright?" Vivi said as she approached her friend who was sitting in the waiting room. Their group of friends had all come, except Luffy who was still busy with his homework, apparently.

"I am, I just wanted company, no big deal." Sanji looked at his friend's smile and saw the way it was forced. He frowned.

"Did you get hurt too?" Zoro shook his head.

"Nah, just my father got hurt."

"Hey, where's Luffy?" Usopp asked.

"Not here, he was busy..." Sanji answered. As he thought about it for a few seconds, his eyes widened. _'Luffy isn't here...'_

"... Hey... Guys... Am I the only one who noticed Luffy's... strange sometimes?" Everyone fell silent.

They all looked at the blond, waiting for him to elaborate, even if they all knew what he was saying was true.

"I mean... Sometimes, he just... knows things without having to ask anyone..." Zoro nodded.

"Like with what he told me at school."

"Or, all the weird 'coincidence' that happens around him..." Nami nodded.

"Yeah, like when I told him about my mother, he found her not long after when he took a stroll down the river on the other side of the town."

"...And he said he knew Kaya and would say he used to talk to her at school, but we all know he didn't talk to her at school." Sanji said as he looked at Usopp. The curly haired teen closed his eyes and stepped forward.

"I don't see why we should be alarmed by this." Sanji looked at him as if he was crazy.

Usopp explained himself. "None of these things were negative. Luffy helped me move on after Kaya died, he helped me mourn. Nami doesn't have to deal with Arlong anymore and whatever he told Zoro was probably full of good intention, if you ask me." They all thought about Usopp's words, but could only agree.

"Aren't you curious though?" Usopp shook his head.

"No, if Luffy is hiding anything from us, well, he is or a blessing or a guardian angel... Something like that." The blond couldn't accept this as an answer.

_"Are you Sanji's mother?"_

_"What are you going to do now?"_

_"I can't explain."_

_"You want to know? Why does everyone want to know but never say anything themselves? You won't tell me your secrets since we started talking a few days ago, I won't tell you mine!"_

He couldn't ignore this. "But... There's something else, Luffy knew my mother's name and I never told him!" Usopp shrugged.

"Angels probably knows people's names." Sanji sighed angrily.

"Usopp, I am not kidding! We aren't talking about angels, this is not a game, this is real life and I want to know what is Luffy's deal!" Zoro put his hand on Sanji's shoulder to make him sit down on a chair. "Calm down."

The swirly-browed teen breathed in and out and sat down. They all accepted this to easily, but Luffy was keeping secrets. They were friends, weren't they? Whatever Luffy was scared to say, wouldn't it be better if he just told them before they started being mad at him? They were closer now, maybe he would open up soon.

* * *

"Luffy, What are you doing?"

The boy was standing on the tip of his toes in the living room while making weird grimaces. His face was twisted as if he was doing something that asked a lot of effort as he seemed to try to lift something invisible with his hands. Sabo chuckled as he saw Ace's confused eyes.

"He is trying to lift himself up to levitate." Ace burst out laughing as he finally noticed everything in the room, the couch, the small table, the lamp, the tv, were all pinned to the sealing or floating in the air. Luffy stuck his tongue at him as he put them all back down and started concentrating on Ace who had sit next to Sabo.

"Fly," Luffy smirked as Ace slowly lifted from the floor until he couldn't touch it anymore and yelped as he tried to grab anything to pull himself back down. Sabo was laughing loudly now, having a really good time watching Ace struggle like he was in space.

"Put me down! Put me down!" As Luffy put Ace back down, the young psychic teen fell back on the couch and gripped his head.

"My head hurts now! Lifting an object and a person is completely different! People move around! Objects don't do that!" He was panting and he laid down on the couch with his eyes closed as he regained his breath.

Sabo smiled. "You have a way better control of your ability now, you are getting better! It's really good!" Luffy giggled.

"Yeah, now, when I want to close the lights, but I am too lazy to stand up, I can just turn them off from far away! I can also make the room colder if it's too hot in the summer!"

Ace went into the kitchen and came back with a bag of ice that he placed on top of his little brother's head. "You still can't levitate though." He teased.

"Meanie... I'll be able to do it soon!"

Sabo stood and walked to them next to Luffy. "You should sleep now, your headache will be gone when you wake up."Luffy nodded and started to go to his room. He turned around and looked at the blond in the eyes.

"Thank you, Sabo..." Ace and Sabo sat next to each other on the couch where Luffy had been a few seconds ago and started to talk softly.

* * *

When they all went to school the next morning, Luffy seemed to not be very attentive, always lost in his thoughts. Zoro looked like he wasn't bored like he was usually, he actually seemed to be on edge. It was strange, according to the others, Luffy would usually talk a lot and Zoro was never bothered by anything before.

"Are you both okay?" Luffy didn't respond. He was looking at his sandwich and was having a hard time finding his appetite. Zoro lifted his gaze to look at who had just spoken, which was Nami and shrugged.

"Seriously, what is wrong with you two? Are you this sad your father got hurt?" Zoro's eyes twitched.

"Of course not." Nami's eyes turned back to Luffy, who was still not paying attention. "Luffy? What's your problem."

"I don't want him to leave... But he'll have too, one day." The raven-haired teen said, almost inaudibly. Nami frowned before she returned to the green-haired teen.

"Why are you so on edge today?" Nobody else was talking. Usopp was particularly scared of Nami when she was mad, her hits could really hurt. Sanji was just watching the scene in silence and Vivi continued to eat her lunch, even if she was worried about the two boy's abnormal behavior.

"I'm fine," Zoro said firmly. The ginger girl hit him over the head.

"Of course you aren't! Say the truth! We are your friends, your problems are our problem! Spill!" Luffy's eyes widened slightly at Nami's words.  _'Maybe...'_

"Fine... When... My dad was hurt, I saw... Kuina." Sanji froze. He knew that name. Zoro had spoken of her a few times before. She was dead. Nami, Vivi and Usopp didn't understand what he meant. They had never known this girl.

"...What?" Luffy said as he suddenly came out of his unfocused gazing. His eyes were wide as he soon understood what had happened. The group turned to look at him and he stood up.

"I... don't feel good... I will leave now." Luffy took his lunch box and started backing away on wobbly feet.

"Wait, Luffy! Don't go now!" Usopp shouted as the boy turned around and started sprinting back to his house. Sanji narrowed his eyes and turned back to the group of friends.

"That is what I meant by 'Luffy is strange'! He just ran off!" Zoro stood up and pulled Sanji angrily by the collar really close to himself.

"Did you tell him about her? You are the only one who knows!" Sanji pushed Zoro back.

"Of course I didn't! And nobody told him my mother's name either!"

Vivi came between the two. "Maybe Luffy was really feeling sick?" She said, almost pleadingly. Zoro and Sanji both shook their heads.

"Something's wrong." But they didn't want anything to be wrong, Luffy was their friend.

"Yeah, Luffy's situation is wrong." Sanji frowned.

"What do you mean?" Zoro sighed.

"I told you the other day, right? Luffy's home situation is worse than mine. I don't know how much though." Sanji nodded in remembrance.

"About Kuina... You said you saw her?" Zoro nodded.

"Are you sure you didn't hallucinate? Maybe it was someone else?" Zoro shook his head.

"No, nothing like that. We were inside my house and she appeared out of nowhere with her katana in her hands and she cut my father across the stomach before she disappeared."

"Who is Kuina?!" Nami said angrily, she hated being left out of a conversation.

"She was a girl at my dojo," Zoro answered without any enthusiasm.

"Was?" Vivi said softly.

"She died." The green-haired teen said sternly.

* * *

"Sabo! Ace! I have a problem! Zoro saw Kuina when she attacked his father and they are all getting more and more suspicious!" The young psychic said as he burst through the front door of the apartment. Ace wasn't there, he was at work, but Sabo had stayed behind and ran to Luffy's side as soon as the younger teen had bolted through the front door.

"Well, maybe it's time." Luffy bit his lips.

"I can't do that, they'll hate me!"

"Ace doesn't hate me, he never hated me, even after I told him the truth."

"You and Ace are different."

"No, we aren't. Now, since I made the decision to tell him, we are best friends now."

"But... What if they think I am crazy and start hating me?"

"That will only mean they were never meant to be your friends. You'll have to find someone who accepts you for who you are."

"I don't want to search for anyone else. They are my friends and I don't want to lose them..."

_Nami... Vivi... Sanji... Usopp... Zoro... can they accept me even if I tell them about my abilities?_


	13. What you try to hide

"She died?" Nami said softly. Everyone looked at Zoro with questioning eyes. Even Sanji, who already had been told the outline of his and the blue haired girl's past relationship, he still couldn't fully grasp how his friend had seen her. Zoro's rival, the only one he had never managed to beat, the one who died. She had appeared in front of him, slashed his father in the chest before disappearing again. Maybe he had been hallucinating. Maybe he had imagined the girl being there since she had always been the representation of courage and strength to him, an inspiration to be better than he ever was.

This would be the sane explication. Zoro's mind was playing tricks on him. He hadn't eaten that much in the past few days and had been beaten a few times, maybe he had hit his head a bit too hard. However, this didn't explain Luffy's reaction. of course, there was the possibility that he had really been feeling sick and had to leave, still, Sanji was convinced otherwise. He had been alarmed and the boy knew himself to be a bad liar, so he left right away to avoid being questioned for his odd behavior. This seemed to be the smartest thing to do, however, it only managed to raise the swirly-browed teen's suspicions.

"I was probably seeing things... I was sleep deprived and all, my mind was playing tricks on me." Sanji snapped back to his green-haired friend. He knew the teen didn't believe his own words, but he wasn't the kind of person to try and get people to worry about him for attention, he was actually quite the opposite.

Vivi smiled at him and put a supporting hand on his shoulder, mentally telling Zoro that things were going to be alright. Usopp was lost in his thoughts, shivering once in a while when he thought of the possibility of being attacked by the undead. Nami simply thought of her mother, wishing she could too, one day, see her again.

"Do you think Luffy is alright? He bolted out of nowhere, I think we should go see him at his house when school is over." Vivi said as she looked at the place Luffy had been sitting a few minutes prior. Usopp nodded as he came out of his musing over when the apocalypse would start.

"Yeah, Luffy has been pretty stiff in the last few days, maybe something really is wrong with him." Zoro and Sanji looked up at him and frowned.

"What do you mean?" The two boys were usually pretty observant, but they hadn't been able to see Luffy wasn't feeling 'top shape' lately. Nami looked at them, dumbfounded.

"Seriously? You didn't notice? He has been so nervous and stressed all the time since a few days before Halloween."

And it was true, Luffy hadn't been completely himself, with good reasons.

* * *

The front door's lock fidgeted before creaking open. Luffy's breath hitched and he straightened up where he was sitting on the couch and stood. Usually, when Ace came in the house, he would announce himself loudly and when Garp came, he would curse at the door since it was hard to open. That only left one more possibility. Luffy wanted to go lock himself in his room, but his feet were stuck in place. He watched as a tall man entered the room and sat on the couch without a care.

"What are you doing out of school at this hour?" His words seemed to be laced with poison and his gaze was severe.

"I was feeling ill sir. I came home to rest." Luffy answered with slight hesitation.

"Go study then, you don't want your grades to drop."Luffy nodded. "Answer when I am talking to you!"

"Yes, sir." Luffy left the room and took his bag to the dining room table. He got his notes and started studying for the upcoming exams. Nevertheless, it was hard to concentrate on this particular task since Dragon, his father was sitting in the next room. His mind was racing.

Dragon entered the room and sat at the table in front of Luffy, making sweatdrops slide run down the young teen's face.

"Luffy." The boy shivered.

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you remember when you were young when we went to the beach?" Luffy looked up from his notes, but the second his eyes met his father's, he looked back down.

"Not really, sir. I was too young to have any memory of it."

"Well, you were only two at the time..."

"What happened back then, sir?" Luffy's fingers were shaking. It had been a few years since he had exchanged this many words with his father, but nothing had changed. Not even his disapproving and disgusted glare.

"You died."

"What?" Luffy turned sharply at Sabo who had just spoken.

"This isn't possible, Luffy is alive, he isn't a spirit, he didn't die!" The blond was beyond angry at the man. Every time he had spoken to Luffy, the young teen was on the verge of breaking in tears, but this was going too far.

"I don't understand, sir." Dragon stood.

"You stopped breathing for a minute. We couldn't get a pulse. When I pulled you out of the water, I was certain you had lost your life. However, a lifeguard got you breathing again, but it was too late. The damage was done."

"I am not sure I understand what kind of damage you are talking about sir."

"You don't? You have to die to be able to see other ghosts, Luffy. You died. You should've stayed dead. It would be less trouble for me, your mother, Ace and everyone you know. I still don't get why Ace still bears to be around you, you shouldn't even be alive." Tears started to gather in the young boy's eyes. He felt as if he had been stabbed in the heart.

"Luffy, don't listen to him! He is just..." Sabo froze once he saw the expression Luffy was throwing at him. The young psychic was afraid. He looked at Sabo with the exact same expression he would look at a poltergeist, his eyes locked on the blood on the spirit's shirt and the old burn scars who decorated his face. Sabo tried to reach out to Luffy but the medium stepped back. He threw a last glance at his father before he bolted out of the house.

"Go away!" Luffy shifted his arm in Sabo's direction and a vase came flying toward him before it passed through him and crashed against the wall. The young psychic was afraid. Dragon's eyes narrowed slightly at Luffy's display but sat still. The psychic looked at Sabo with the exact same expression he would look at a poltergeist, his eyes locked on the blood on the spirit's shirt and the old burn scars who decorated his face. Sabo tried to reach out to Luffy but the medium stepped back. He threw a last glance at his father before he bolted out of the house. Sabo looked with startled eyes as the young boy exited the house before he turned back to Dragon with an angry stare. He wanted to hit this man, strangle him, anything really to make him disappear.

"Whoever you are, you know you shouldn't try to attack me. You know angry spirits tend to loose control and it would be bad for you, wouldn't it?" The man stood and made his way to the kitchen and started preparing himself a cup of tea. Sabo stood still, incapable of doing anything as Dragon's words resonated in his ears.

"If you are asking yourself this question, I can't see you like my son. I just know there is a spirit in my house and I can sense when bloodlust is directed at me." In that moment, everything Sabo knew about Dragon came crashing down. He could sense spirits, just like Ace and Marco. He knew Luffy was a medium and a psychic. He despised his son for it. The only question remaining was why. Why couldn't he just accept Luffy's difference and be a father to him?

But... Where would Luffy go? Surely, Ace would know.

Sabo ran out of the house and proceeded to search for Ace, but the older brother was only a few streets away.

* * *

Luffy ran blindly until he couldn't feel his legs anymore. He had run to get as far away from Sabo and Dragon as he could. He didn't want to see anyone and surprisingly enough, he ended up in the cemetery. People would believe cemeteries were the place where you would find a lot of lost souls walking around, but the place was usually pretty empty. It was the most peaceful and silent place Luffy knew. Spirits wouldn't haunt a cemetery since people usually haunted places or people who had a strong meaning to them. They would rarely go to the cemetery since it was the place that reminded them of the cold and harsh truth.

They had died.

The young psychic couldn't help but be reminded of it as well. Mrs. Sora, Sanji's mother, had died. Kuina, Zoro's friend, and rival had died. Kaya, Usopp's friend, well, they were probably more than just friends, she had died as well. Bellemere, Nami's loving mother, had died. Rouge and Roger, Ace's parents, had died. Sabo, Ace's best friend, had died. And he, Monkey D. Luffy, had died around eleven years ago.

Slowly, he walked to the cliff, looking down at the ocean. Jumping down the reef would mean instant death, The rocks at the bottom were sharp and the cliff was pretty high. The young medium walked closer to the edge and took a big breath. He was already dead anyway, would it really matter? Everyone else would be better without him. He closed his eyes.

* * *

Ace entered the apartment in fury. "What is your problem?! Why are you even here?" He shouted harshly as he looked at his adoptive father, who was casually drinking a cup of tea in the living room. The man sighed and stood. He looked at Ace, then gazed at the place where he guessed Luffy's spirit-friend was standing. It didn't take long for him to put two and two together, Ace had heard what had happened from the thing standing next to him.

"You will speak to me with more respect, besides, you and Luffy know I come here every year in November." His glare could make a grown man cry, but Ace didn't let it intimidate him in the slightest.

"Not before you tell me where Luffy is and why you would tell him bullshit like that!"

"I don't know where that kid could run off to, I don't really know him as much as you do. I still don't get why you bear to have him around, but more importantly, how you put up with having a ghost haunting your apartment." Ace's eyes looked like they were burning in anger.

"Don't you dare talk about Sabo like that." His voice was dark and low, sending a chill down the blond's spine. He knew Ace cared about him, but this was something else, Dragon was a scary man.

"Sabo... So that's his name. Still, I wouldn't tolerate having a spirit roaming around my house." He put down his cup of tea and stood in front of the fiery young adult.

"Don't change the subject. Why would you say that to Luffy?" Ace said, almost desperate for an answer.

"Because it's true. Your little brother died. He wouldn't be a freak medium if he had never died." Ace's breath hitched as the memory rushed back to him.

* * *

_Dragon ran out of the ocean, holding a young two-year-old in his arms. Luffy had been playing in the sand when a particularly big wave had hit him and dragged him away._

_"Luffy!" Ace ran to his adoptive father's side and looked at the boy in his arms. He wasn't moving. His world came crashing around him. He couldn't afford to lose Luffy too. He had lost his mother and his father. Luffy was his new little brother. He couldn't have anyone else he held dear die. Time seemed to freeze. every second felt like hours. Dragon and Luffy's mother were standing next to him and a lifeguard was kneeled at Luffy's side, desperately trying to make the boy breathe again. Every second felt like another pang to his chest as Luffy still wouldn't move. His eyes were filled with tears, Luffy's mother looked the same, but Dragon looked at his son with vacant eyes. The tears stopped running down Ace's face. He depicted in his adoptive father's eyes something disgusting._

_He looked at Luffy as if he was hoping the boy would die right now._

_Luffy coughed up water and started moving again. Ace proceeded to take him in his arms the second the boy looked a bit better and glared at Dragon. Both Luffy's eyes and Dragon's had changed that day._

* * *

"This doesn't give you the right to tell him that!" Ace was about to punch him when the doorbell rang. Dragon didn't even twitch and went back to his cup of tea.

Ace went to the door and opened, only to see five familiar teenagers and one spirit on his doorstep. Vivi, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Zoro and who he would assume to be Kuina stood on the porch and they all looked worried, some more openly than others, but all cared about their raven-haired friend.

"Is Luffy here?" Ace shook his head. "Come in." The five teens shifted uncomfortably when they saw how mad Ace seemed. They couldn't help but fear that anger was directed at them, except for Zoro when he saw a man in the living room with his cup of tea.

Ace smiled briefly at them before returning to Dragon. "So you have no idea where Luffy went?" Dragon didn't listen to his question.

"Who are these people?" He asked.

"W... We are... Luffy's... Luffy's f-friends." Usopp said, shaking when Dragon's glare had landed on him. They were all standing in the living room now, questioning eyes looking at the man who was drinking tea in their friend's living room.

"Luffy doesn't have friends. He can't." Sanji glared at the man. He didn't like him at all. The rest of their little group seemed to agree.

"It's not up to you to decide that," Zoro said with twice as much hate filling his eyes than anyone else in the group of young teens since he had heard a bit about who this man was. He had already decided he hated Luffy's father more than his own.

"Where is he? I am sure you know where he went." Vivi looked worriedly at Ace after he said this.

"What happened to Luffy?" Dragon and Ace ignored the question, making Luffy's friends twice as worried.

"I didn't think my son was so unpredictable to you."

Don't call him that." Ace roared, making the other people in the room widened their eyes at the news.

"Where would a dead kid go once he accepted he died?" Ace frowned.

"The cemetery," Sabo said. Ace snapped back at Sabo, then took Dragon by the collar and slammed him into the wall.

"If I never see my little brother again, I'll hunt you down and make you join him." Dragon didn't react as Ace stared murderously in his adoptive father's vacant eyes. He released him and took his coat.

"Wait, Ace where are you going?" Nami shouted.

"I am going to search for Luffy. He's at the cemetery."

"We may not understand everything that's going on, but we are coming with you," Sanji said as the small gang went to follow behind Ace.

"We just have to hope we aren't too late when we get there..." Sabo said. Dread installed itself in the pit of everyone's stomach as they started running through the streets.

* * *

_Atone for your sin_

_"What is my sin?"_

_"You were born."_

_"You exist."_

_"I should've let you_   _drown."_

_'If I jump, will I have atoned for my sin?'_

"Yohohohohoho... It is such a beautiful day, isn't it?" Luffy turned around and took a step away from the edge. Looking around, he saw a man- a skeleton holding a violin and coming closer to the reef.

"You shouldn't waste this bright sunny day by jumping off this cliff, you would miss the breeze and the sunlight!" The skeleton put his violin on his shoulder and started playing a slow but beautiful song.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked, temporarily forgetting his dark thoughts that were slowly pushing him to jump.

"My name is Brook. I am pleased to see you, even if I don't have eyes to see! Yohohohohohoho! Skull joke!" Luffy chuckled and took another step away from the edge.

"I'm Luffy. Nice to meet you too." The boy smiled, not at all disturbed by the violinist's appearance. It was, in fact, a beautiful day. The sky was clear and the sun was shining. Of, course, it was a bit cold since it was November, but Luffy was used to this kind of temperature now.

"What are you doing here, Luffy-san?" Luffy's breath hitched as he looked back at the ocean.

"I was going to atone for my sin." Brook stopped playing abruptly, startling the young teen slightly.

"What did you do that was so bad you should die to be forgiven?" His voice was low and serious, but he was listening to the younger boy with great care.

"I should've died a long time ago. I... shouldn't exist." Saying it out loud had been difficult, but he couldn't think any other way.

"Existing is never a sin." The violinist's voice was stern. The young psychic turned back to him with tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"I can see people that are already dead, this means I am dead too... I am a freak, I can't have friends-"

"People would think what you have is a gift," Brook said gently.

"But people will hate me for it." Brook kneeled in front of the boy.

"We both know that isn't true. I am sure there is at least one person who will never leave you, no matter what."

* * *

_Ace took Luffy in his arms. "Luffy... Don't cry... Shhhh... It's alright... I'm here... Big brother is here..."_

_"I had a nightmare..." Ace's grip tightened around the small boy._

_"Tell me what it was... It's okay..."_

_"You left and you never came back... I was alone and you wouldn't come."_

_"Luffy... don't worry, I will never leave you."_

_"Ace... please... don't die!" Ace froze at the words of his ten-year-old little brother. He bit his lips as he tried to keep tears from gathering in his eyes._

_"I promise you I will never die."_

* * *

Luffy's legs gave out under him as he fell to his knees. "You're right." He started crying. "I can't do that to Ace... He already lost Sabo."

"How do you do it? Never give up? You always come here and play, but you don't know if anyone is going to hear you." Brook smiled.

"Sometimes, when you feel completely lost, hope is all you have." Luffy smiled and sat down, looking away at the ocean, tears running down his face.

"I don't know if she is still alive, but I am sure, where ever she is in the ocean, she can hear me." Luffy chuckled.

"It's sweet."

"Yeah, I know her since she was really small. She must be larger than a house now! Maybe larger than a mansion! Yohohohoho!" Luffy frowned.

"What are you talking about? Aren't you signing for your girlfriend or something like that?" Brook laughed.

"No woman would take my heart, not that I have a heart to offer! Yohohohoho! They thought it was strange that I was asking to see their panties... I sign for Laboon, a whale that used to follow our ship, she loved listening to the music I sang with my violin! Yohohohohoho!" Luffy smiled through his tears and started laughing too.

"You're funny."

"I am glad you see what life still has to offer to you. Hold on to it." Luffy took his locket in his hand. He opened it and looked at Ace and him on the picture. He still had Ace.

"Luffy!" He turned around to see Ace, Sabo, Kuina, Zoro, Sanji, Vivi, Nami and Usopp running in the cemetery toward him. Ace grabbed his arm and pulled him as far from the cliff as he could. He hugged him tightly, tears of relief running down his cheeks. Sabo was also openly weeping, he had been more than worried about the young psychic and Kuina was silently crying softly while she was trying to make Sabo stop leaking that much. Zoro smirked, he was more than happy Luffy was okay. Sanji had his eyes closed and he was taking big relieved breaths. Vivi and Nami were holding each other, trying to not break in tears, but failing. When Ace had said he maybe wouldn't see his brother ever again, it was as if they couldn't breathe properly anymore until they knew Luffy was safe. Usopp was crying too, not as much as Ace or Sabo, but he was very close.

When Ace let go of Luffy, The five teens jumped on top of the psychic boy to hug/scold Luffy.

"You idiot! You made us so worried!" Nami shouted as she hit him not too hard over the head. Brook smiled as he continued his song.

"Yohohohohoho! You have more than one person who cares deeply about you, Luffy-san." The six friends stood again.

"Thank you..." Luffy said as he dried his tears.

Sanji crossed his arms. "You owe us a big explanation for making us worried like that." Luffy scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"I guess I do... But you have to promise you will not hate me."

Zoro perked up. "Are you an idiot? After we ran all the way here, how could you ever think we could?" He smirked.

Luffy breathed in and out slowly. He looked up at Ace and Sabo, who both nodded with confidence in their eyes.

"I see dead people."


	14. It falls back into place

"What do you mean by that?!" Nami screeched, slightly nervous. She became suddenly highly defensive and sour, the medium in front of her was saying things that couldn't be true, at this point, she was half-expecting him to burst out laughing saying it was a joke and half-expecting him to have a mental breakdown in front of them. She looked back at Ace behind them only the eldest brother wearing the most serious expression she ever saw him wear and looking at Luffy with a supporting but vacant stare.

"I can talk to ghosts. I can see them." Luffy said in the same monotone voice. Ace's eyes squinted slightly, making him look awfully distant and judging of the little group of teenagers. He was staring at them to make sure they wouldn't hurt his little brother in any way, making them a little bit more nervous.

_"Are you Sanji's mother?"_

_"Mrs. Sora, do you think-"_

"Like... my mother?" Sanji said softly. It would make sense. Everything started to make sense. Back then, Luffy had been chatting with his dead mother in the living room. On the porch of Usopp's house, he assumed Luffy had been talking to Kaya and he knew about Kuina because he probably met the girl already and spoke to her more than once. Everything odd about Luffy started to be less of an enigma and more of a boy who had only been scared of being hurt if he was to be rejected. From his own experience, he knew how hard it was to be secluded and all his suspicion and distrust slowly started to transform into fondness and sadness for the shorter raven haired teen.

"Yes... She is a lovely woman." Luffy answered with a soft smile.

"Are we suppose to believe that?" Nami said, her voice trembling. She didn't want to think Luffy was lying, but her emotions were getting stronger every second.

"I don't get it... do you see them like... Do you talk to them? Did you... Speak to Kaya that way? Can I tell her something now? Is she here?" Usopp's confusion turned into hope. Suddenly, death wasn't the end anymore, it was a new beginning for some people they knew.

"No... she crossed to the other side. When we talked last month, she was saying goodbye." Tears gathered in the curly haired teen's eyes. "So... Kaya is gone... for good." Luffy nodded slowly, letting the boy swallow the news. To his surprise, Usopp smiled, his face still drowned in tears.

"When we were talking, on the bench, she was sitting next to us, right? She was actually there, right?" Usopp said softly as he looked at Luffy.

"She was."

"Thank you..."

It didn't help the fact that Nami was still scowling at him. "I still don't think you are saying the truth."

"I can prove it," Luffy said as he smiled at her. His eyes were still red and puffy, but he had a warm and comforting smile on his face.

"How would you do that?" Usopp asked. He was getting curious about Luffy's ability, but now that he really thought about it, his legs were shaking at the idea of ghosts hanging around them all the time.

"I could... Huh... Sabo? What should I do?" The young Psychic turned to the blond. Out of him, Ace and Sabo, Ace had always proven he was the smartest. At the mention of that particular name, Sanji's eyes squinted. He had heard it before.

_"Sabo is very nice. He is always there to help. He worries a lot all the time too."_

_"He's my best friend."_

**Outlook Sabo**

The name on the tombstone in the cemetery. So, he was here right now? There was an actual ghost around them at this very moment?

"You could show them your psychic telekinesis thing?" He answered.

"Good idea, but it wouldn't help prove he can see ghosts, blondie." Ace replied at the spirit, gaining himself a few odd looks from the others.

"Wait for a second... First of all, There is a ghost here? Right now? And second... Ace can see ghosts too?" Usopp said, shakily.

"Actually, there are three spirits here right now. Second thing, Ace can only see Sabo, I don't really know why though." Luffy said with a half pout. He would brush it off as a mystery if he wasn't so curious about the origin of his, Ace's and Sabo's (well, former for the blond) special ability. He still couldn't understand what was different between them and the rest of the world. He didn't know what had differentiated him and Ace to make their abilities so different.

The rest of his friends seemed dumbfounded.

"Three? Why is there three ghosts here?" Usopp said in the same cowardly tone.

"Idiot, we are in a cemetery, I am surprised there aren't more than that!" Nami said as she hit the curly haired teen atop his head. She had seemingly stopped feeling like the situation was totally impossible now, she even was starting to consider Luffy might not be crazy and was telling the truth.

"Right now, there is only Sabo, Kuina and Brook. Brook is the one who talked me out of jumping off the reef!" They all looked at the happy looking teen in something akin to shock and sadness. Ace and Sabo had seen and/or heard of a lot of spirits who had pushed people to kill themselves, poltergeists who hurt and sometimes killed people, however, they had never heard of one who had saved anyone from killing himself like the violinist had done. Brook didn't even know Luffy. Said skeleton-spirit started playing softly.

Luffy's friends were shocked for another reason. Luffy had talked about death like it was nothing. They had just realized now how much Luffy had lived through hard circumstances. Nevertheless, Even if he wasn't showing it, the young teen wasn't completely indifferent in the face of death, he was just not afraid of it anymore as much as before.

"So... you are saying... Those spirits haunt us all the time?" Zoro said thinking of the time he saw Kuina defending him against his drunken father.

Luffy chuckled. "It's really funny how you all get so surprised about this when you are hanging around spirits all the time." He chuckled. "Kuina is always following you, Zoro, everywhere you go, it's actually kind of cute." Kuina's face reddened.

"Shut up!" Luffy giggled softly at her reaction. Zoro only looked down, be it in embarrassment or in sadness wasn't clear as his eyes were stuck in an unreadable expression.

"So... When you found my mother's... body... She..." Nami said in a low voice, bringing her hand to her face.

"She asked me to find it, yeah. She didn't want you and your sister to suffer any longer because of Arlong." Nami smiled weakly. She didn't want to cry more, however, she was starting to think what Luffy was saying was the truth. It was hard to believe, but Luffy was sincere.

_"Where would a dead kid go once he accepted he died?"_

Vivi dreaded as she recalled the words spoken by Luffy's father. She turned around to face Ace with distress written all over her face.

"What did Dragon mean when... he said Luffy was... dead?" All eyes turned to the blue haired girl. They could all recall the sentence Dragon had spoken as well. Back then, it hadn't really meant anything to them, but knowing Luffy's ability now, it seemed there was a deeper meaning to it they still couldn't understand.

Ace looked down at Sabo, then at Luffy. Sabo seemed as troubled as him, lost in his thoughts. The phrase had undeniably startled him to a point he wouldn't be able to talk to them for a few minutes like he had drifted in his own little world. Luffy, on the other hand, was biting his lips and tugging at his shirt without really making eye contact with any of them. Seeing this reaction as an indication he actually knew what Dragon had meant, Ace stepped in front of the younger boy and put his hands on his shoulders, looking at him in the eyes. When the boy didn't look back at him, Ace took his chin to force his gaze to lock with his.

"Care to tell us what you know?" Luffy frowned in confusion.

"You don't remember?" The younger boy's eyes were vacant as if all emotion he could muster had been sucked out of his very being. In that moment, Ace could only recall one time when he had felt an undeniably terrifying and cold wave of distress wash over him a long time ago as he had watched Luffy's unmoving and lifeless form.

"You mean... When you almost drowned? How can you remember that? You were two!" Ace could never forget this particular moment. It had been traumatizing for him to see Luffy in such a state. Unmoving, pale and sickly cold. He still had nightmares about it sometimes, but only Sabo knew about those, even if he didn't have them as often anymore. After it had happened, it took a while for them to stop, but the nightmares came back after Sabo died. He had been convinced back then that he had been cursed. everyone around him was dying, one at a time. Nevertheless, Luffy hadn't died back then, the proof was that he was alive and breathing right now. He wasn't intangible and invisible like Kuina or Sabo, he was there.

"I wasn't breathing. I am pretty sure my heart stopped at some point." Luffy said without any real emotions in his voice.

"What are you guys talking about?" Zoro asked.

"When Luffy was very young, we went to the ocean and he was drowning after a wave had pulled him away. We were pretty sure we had lost him back then." Ace said with melancholy.

"Well, what does it have to do with what's happening right now with Luffy's father?" Sanji couldn't really get how an eleven-year-old incident could still be affecting Luffy's relationship with his dad.

"Everything." Ace, Kuina, and Luffy perked up, leaving the rest of them confused about the brother's sudden move.

"What do you mean by 'everything', Sabo?" Ace asked with a guarded expression. Usopp, Nami, Sanji, Vivi, Zoro, and Nami started staring at the empty spot beside Ace and Luffy were the two brothers were staring. The blond spirit gulped, his eyes still unfocused and trembling. Ace had taken Luffy in his arms at this point like he was trying to shield him from this mess.

"Sabo's right... My... father started looking at me differently after that day... That's the day I became a medium." Luffy said as he thought back to the words Dragon had told him.

_"You stopped breathing for a minute. We couldn't get a pulse. When I pulled you out of the water, I was certain you had lost your life. However, a lifeguard got you breathing again, but it was too late. The damage was done."_

_"You don't? You have to die to be able to see other ghosts, Luffy. You died. You should've stayed dead. It would be less trouble for me, your mother, Ace and everyone you know. I still don't get why Ace still bears to be around you, you shouldn't even be alive."_

"I can't remember it perfectly, but when Dragon pulled me out of the water, I was standing next to Ace. I could see myself lying on the sand. I think... I think Dragon knows more about this than he lets on." Luffy said nervously.

The blond spirit traced a hand over his old scar over his left eye. He had gotten it so many years ago, it was even before he met Ace. Reminiscing this particular memory was always painful. It was as painful for him than when he would remember the priests and their exorcism methods, probably worse. Thinking about it now, he had died twice in his short life, if that made sense.

"We should... Stop sulking and go home. You came to get me, so let's get going. Thank you, Brook! I'll come visit you again!" The psychic boy said with a seemingly joyful smile harboring his lips. He wasn't actually in a happy mood and his friends could all clearly see he was still pretty depressed, but he was tired after this day and all he wanted was to sleep. The little group of friends, brothers, and spirits alike made their way back to the small apartment Luffy, Ace and Sabo could call home with some light chatter and saddened smiles. Nobody was really excitable at the moment with having someone close to them who had been one step away from committing suicide.

Sabo walked behind the group with a vacant expression. From everything he knew about Dragon, he could say without hesitating that his parents hadn't been as bad as Luffy's about his ability. Actually, they had never really known the extent of his capacities, more like they never believed it to be true, they only thought Sabo was strange in a way. After a few incidents where he had been attacked by a poltergeist during the night, they had started believing he was possessed by a demon or something like that. He would scream in the middle of the night and when a servant entered the room to check on him, his sheets were covered in blood even if no one else was in the room. Even if the windows and the door were locked, it kept happening. Of course, it wouldn't really change anything to do so.

They had brought him to different churches and different priests, nevertheless, he could only describe his experiences as torture.

Even though his parents, the priests, and his adoptive brother, Stelly, were nightmares to him, they couldn't be as bad as his actual nightmare. It was always as if he was experiencing his death. The details were so clear, the sensations were so realistic, he could even feel the sweat running down his back. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears. He could hear the sickening laughter coming from behind him as he ran. Even now, after all these years, once in a while when he 'fell asleep', the blond spirit relived the pain of this fateful day, the sharp pain of the knife being twisted in his lower abdomen as he silently screamed in pain. The agony he had been in as he fell to the floor and tried to pull himself away, crawling to the nearest safe place. The sadness he had been through as he reached for his phone and dialed Ace's number, begging him to not let him die alone.

He could also feel, once again, the fear he had felt once he saw the raven haired teen come take him in his arms and desperately try to stop his bleeding. He had seen this happen in his dream. Over and over again. Every time it ended with his death and Ace was crying, clutching his unmoving body closer to his heart. Every time he had seen this, he had been sad for Ace and mad at himself for leaving so soon, but in his real final moment, the fear didn't come from there, it came from death itself.

_"Ace... I don't want to die... I'm scared."_

Then... nothing. The scariest thing he had ever been through. Even if he had seen this play over a hundred times before, he had never known what came afterward. In that moment, where nothing existed, he had a choice to stay or to cross. His mind was empty. He knew exactly what he had to do. He had promised, after all.

* * *

_"Sabo... We have to promise each other something."_

_"What?"_

_"We will never let ourselves become one of them."_

_"So you are saying we should cross to the other side before our minds go completely nuts so we won't become poltergeists."_

_"No."_

_"What are you saying then?"_

_"We need to cross as soon as we die."_

_"Why? It can take years, sometimes even decades or centuries before spirits turn crazy, depending on the person..."_

_"Staying here when no one can see you will only make us depressed. We never encountered a spirit who was happy, free. Spirits can't be free if they are still anchored to the world of the living."_

* * *

The choice wasn't really as easy as it had seemed. As he thought again about the question of leaving or staying, Sabo remembered every time he had laughed with his best friend. Every time they had smiled together. Every time they had cried in each other's arms. Every time they had sit in a tree and talked. Every time they had watched the stars carelessly. Every time they had been free together. The blond had no memories of freedom without the freckled teen at his side. Ace, his best friend, his brother, had been his freedom.

So he had stayed.

To this day, he would still wonder if he had done the right thing. Every day he would look at Luffy and Ace, asking himself this very question. The two would smile at him and, suddenly, he felt like there wasn't anything bad with freedom.

Luffy was leading the group, followed closely by his older brother. He was walking backward, not really paying attention to where he was going because Ace was there to make sure he was okay. He was lively chatting with his friends, trying to convince them he wasn't lying about his other cool powers. The psychic had said he would show them back at the apartment, but they still weren't a hundred percent sure if Luffy was kidding or exaggerating about his powers.

Usopp believed him fully, he was saying, as one of the best liars in the world, he could very well know what was a lie and what was real, saying Luffy was saying the truth.

Nami was a little skeptic about the whole flying part, though Luffy had said it was still work in progress. She wasn't convinced about the temperature manipulating thing too, but she could very well be wrong, she thought.

Vivi was thinking it was simply impossible, however, she couldn't believe Luffy would lie to them, making her forced to believe it was true.

Zoro didn't really care if it was true or not, nevertheless, he still thought it was kind of cool.

Sanji was thinking about when Luffy had lost his temper at one point when they had talked a while ago. The room had suddenly felt cold and the lights had been flickering. He and Luffy had exchanged heated arguments about three times in total in the last month, all about the same thing, but he had never noticed this kept happening until now.

Kuina was also a bit secluded from the group. She looked at her hands in worry, she couldn't stop trembling.

Ace was the first one to enter the apartment. He went to the table in the dining room and saw that a note and an envelope had been left behind.

' _This is the check for the next few month, I will be back in February.  
Dragon.'_

After they had been assured Luffy's father had left, the rest of the group entered the house. Luffy immediately let himself fall on the couch with a sigh. He lifted his arm in the air and started moving it. His friends looked at him confused while Ace and Sabo rolled their eyes. In the kitchen, the fridge opened, a few slices of ham came out of it before the fridge closed back and the ham started hovering back to Luffy, who took it and started eating it.

The little group looked at Luffy with wide eyes and the boy chuckled.

"It's cool right?" The young psychic said gleefully.

"It's so awesome! Do it again!" Usopp said, arms raised in the air. Luffy suddenly had an evil smirk grazing his lips. He sat up on the couch and looked at Zoro who had decided to nap sitting against the wall in the corner of the room. His left arm made a motion toward the green haired teen, then the ceiling. Slowly, the teen lifted in the air until he wasn't touching the floor anymore. He woke up suddenly and started flailing his arms around.

"Put me down! What is happening?"

"Stop moving so much! It's harder to control if you move around! I could drop you!" The teen instantly froze. Sanji started laughing at the green-haired teen's misery until he was floating in the air too.

"Stop that Luffy! It's not funny anymore!"

"Yeah, cause you are a victim too, now." Everyone laughed and Luffy put them both down. The young psychic's arms flailed and he laid back on the couch before passing out, his mind completely exhausted.

* * *

"Is Luffy alright?" Vivi said as she looked at the sleeping raven-haired psychic.

"Of course, he is just tired. I'll make dinner, do you guys want to stay?" Ace said as he gently passed his hand through Luffy's dark locks of hair.

"I can make dinner if you want. I am a pretty good cook." The swirly browed teen said nonchalantly as he walked to the kitchen. Ace smiled as the others responded as well. He nodded and thanked him before he sat on the couch, taking his younger brother in his arms. It didn't take long for the older brother to pass out as well.

"Shouldn't we wake them up?" Usopp asked in concern. They had been invited to eat dinner at the brothers' apartment, but their two hosts had passed out on the couch. The curly haired teen wasn't sure what they should do.

"Let them sleep. They had a rough day." Nami said as she made her way to the kitchen to help Sanji out.

Vivi looked at them and smiled. She had never had any siblings of her own, but Ace and Luffy were simply endearing to watch.

"It's funny, at first I thought Luffy's big secret was that he was schizophrenic, completely crazy or a stalker. I couldn't explain any other way how Luffy knew those little things. Now, he seems so... Different. I feel like things can only get better since we know what's going on." Nami said to Sanji as she washed the vegetables.

_"You want to know? Why does everyone want to know but never say anything themselves? You won't tell me your secrets since we started talking a few days ago, I won't tell you mine!"_

"It can only get better... It won't make things easier though." The blond cook said in a low tone.

_"Luffy doesn't have friends. He can't."_

_"Where would a dead kid go once he accepted he died?"_

Dragon's smile was plastered in his mind as the man talked nonchalantly about his own son's possible demise. It was cold and almost filled with madness, sending a shiver down the teen's spine. Vinsmoke Judge, his own father, seemed like the kindest hearted person in the world compare to this man.


	15. The road to the inevitable

"Can I stay a little while longer?"

Everyone was leaving the apartment. Sanji had to come home before his father came back from his trip, Nami was exhausted, Usopp still had a homework to finish at home and Vivi didn't want to worry her parents further. Zoro's case was a bit different. His father had been released from the hospital in the afternoon since his wound hadn't been too deep and he knew his frustration would be taken on someone. His mother tried to stay away from home more often now, fearing the drunken man's wrath.

"Of course," Luffy answered with a small smile. His friend's well-being was important to him and he didn't want Zoro to go back to his house now. If it was possible, he would've wanted him to never go back, but he wouldn't be able to do that.

Ace, Luffy, Sabo, Zoro, and Kuina sat in the living room in silence for a few minutes before Ace decided to break the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"We should talk about  _that_  now." Kuina and Sabo seemed mostly unfazed, but they both looked down darkly at Ace's words. Luffy bit his lips and took a large breath. Zoro raised a brow, curious about what  _that_ could be.

"Yeah... Ace, Sabo, do you know all the phases and steps? I didn't see that many 'turn' so I wouldn't exactly know them well." Luffy said as he looked at his brothers sheepishly.

"We know the basic idea... But it's been like... three years? A bit more than that actually... I don't remember it well." Ace said as he tried to remember.

"Me neither. I don't think I want to remember those crazy bastards anyway." Sabo said with a shiver.

"What are you talking about?" Zoro said as he turned to his raven-haired friend.

Luffy sighed softly. "Kuina... when she attacked your father, she took the first step towards becoming a poltergeist. I am not saying she will turn soon, I am just saying it is now inevitable if she doesn't cross."

"Cross?"

"To the other side."

"Oh..." Zoro wasn't sure he understood everything it meant.

"Let's put it like this. She hurt a living human out of anger. This is the first step. after this, she will go through different phases, slowly but surely getting detach from who she really is until she becomes a poltergeist." Zoro narrowed his eyes.

"What happens then?"

"She could go on a rampage or start haunting someplace. Hurting people who did nothing wrong. It will be one hundred times harder to make her cross then."

Ace and Sabo nodded, confirming Luffy's words.

"I can resist it! I won't become a mindless freak!" Kuina protested. Sabo glared at her.

"Everyone says that, but it's impossible to resist forever if you took the first step." The blond said with clenched fists.

"I promise I will leave when Zoro will be out of this bad situation he was put in." The blue-haired spirit said louder.

"What's happening?" The green-haired teen could feel the pressure building in the room. It wasn't Luffy playing with the lights or temperature, it was a stifling tension that came from the only two empty seat around the table.

"Sabo and Kuina are mad at each other." Luffy summarized.

"And who is going to take care of that?!" Sabo said angrily. Ace was trying to pull Sabo back and tell him to calm down but his hand would only pass through.

"Well... I thought Luffy-"

**"I am not letting Luffy die the way I did so keep him out of this,"** Sabo said with a strong and dark voice, glaring directly into Kuina's eyes. Zoro shivered. Sabo's voice had slightly resonated in his head. Both of you shut

"Both of you shut up!" Luffy said harshly as he slammed his fist on the table. "Kuina, you'll have to accept to cross one day no matter what situation Zoro will be in and Sabo, Zoro is my friend. If I decide I will help him, it is my choice and not yours to make!" Ace put a hand on Luffy's shoulder, making him sit back down.

"Sorry... Just, don't fight like that." Luffy said as he looked down. "Now about the... poltergeist... phase thing."

"Sabo and I used to call it 'mind decay' or 'decadence of the conscious'." Ace said with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes and a small smile harboring his lips.

"Why not just call it 'turning'? Like when spirits turn into poltergeist?" Luffy said as he looked at his big brother weirdly.

"Well, Ace thought it sounded cooler," Sabo said with a small chuckle. "I didn't think it made sense." Ace rolled his eyes.

"You're the one who came up with that name, stupid."

"Can we get to the point?" Kuina said as she started loosing her patience. Zoro had sat there silently, listening to the interaction between Ace and Luffy and trying to understand what the two spirits were actually saying.

"Yeah sorry," Luffy said.

"Well... I know a guy at work who knows a lot about ghosts and spirits. He's a medium too. His abilities are a bit more like mine than Luffy's or Sabo's, but he has had it for longer so it's better... Do you understand what I mean?" They nodded and Luffy's eyes lit up.

"You have a psychic friend?"

"He is not a psychic, only a medium."

"Doesn't matter. It's so cool! Can I meet him? I always wanted to talk to other mediums!" Sabo's and Ace's eyes narrowed.

"We don't count?" They said in unison.

"Well, Ace is new to it and Sabo isn't one anymore really... So yeah, you both don't count!" Luffy said happily. Seeing the cheerful boy actually managed to make Zoro smile a bit and got Kuina to calm down. They all knew Luffy had been through a lot. Seeing him so full of life made them hopeful for their own situation.

"Alright... So, can I meet him?" Luffy asked again and Ace sighed in defeat.

"You already met him before a few times. His name is Marco. He works with me at the Whitebeard company."

"Pineapple-head guy is a medium?" Luffy said curiously. Sabo and Ace snickered.

"Yes, he is. I'll call him now, wait a few minutes." Ace said with a smile as he left the room.

Zoro looked at the chair he knew Kuina was sitting and said spirit shifted uncomfortably under his indirect gaze. Luffy was messing with a pencil by making it levitate and try to write with it that way. He always started doing this when he was bored or nervous. Telekinesis had become a something like a quirk for the young psychic. He really wanted to learn how to write well with telekinesis so he would be able to control more than one pencil at a time and finish his homework 4 times faster. When Ace came back in the room, all eyes turned to him.

"Marco is coming over, he said he was going to help explain himself."

"He probably thought you were too dumb to explain it to us correctly, let alone understand everything," Sabo said with a mocking smile, making Luffy chuckle.

Zoro returned his gaze to the empty chair Kuina was sitting on. "Do you know how you become a medium? Is it a genetic thing or..." The young teen had been curious. Luffy, Ace and Sabo were all mediums and now he knew one of Ace's friend was a medium too. It seemed like it was more common than he thought if all those people Luffy knew were mediums. Maybe there were a lot more people he knew that were mediums but never told anyone.

Also, he would never admit it, but seeing Kuina again was something he secretly wished he could do. It was natural. She was his rival and his model. He looked up to her since she had always been strong and determined. He just wanted to be at the same level as her. He just wanted to prove that he could be strong by defeating her in a duel, but she died. He had cried a few times when he was alone. It had been even harder for him since Kuina had been his first crush too, but he never got to tell her. It was too late now to think of what could have been.

"We don't know exactly what makes people mediums, but we have a few clues. Maybe Marco will know." Ace said nonchalantly while sending Sabo a scowl.

"I think you need to die to become a Psychic," Luffy said in a soft voice. Sabo and Ace turned their eyes to the youngest with a puzzled and startled look while Zoro eyed the medium boy in a mixture of curiosity, interest, and fear.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, like I told you guys earlier, the time I drowned 11 years ago is when I became a medium. There is no way this is unrelated." Ace frowned.

"You could be right, but it wouldn't explain how me, Sabo and Marco became mediums." Sabo looked at the floor sheepishly.

"It would explain how I became a psychic at least..." Everyone except Zoro turned to him expectantly.

"I was in a house fire when I was around three or four, That's how I got this scar," Sabo said as he pointed at the charred skin over his left eye. Ace looked at him, bewildered. In all these years he got to know the blond, never had Sabo ever mentioned the permanent disfigurement of his face and every time it was brought up, the blond would change the subject or stop talking completely until Ace decided to change the subject.

No one dared to ask any further comment or question him further as Luffy relayed this new piece of information to Zoro. Sabo had always hated remembering this particular night. It was the oldest memory he had. He couldn't remember anything before that point, and, even if it was his most distant memory, he could remember everything that had transpired that night so clearly. Thinking about it was hard. Remembering it, replaying every step and every breath he took, remembering every little detail that had played out was excruciating. Not because it was hard to do but because it was hard to watch. The memory was so vivid he could feel the smoke entering his lungs and the unbearable heat as if he was walking on the sun.

However, the physical pain hadn't really been the hardest part of this tragic experience.

* * *

_A small blond boy got out of his bed as he was woken up by the rising temperature of the room he was in. Smoke was entering the room by the half-closed door. Sabo got up, holding his teddy bear close to his heart. The boy slowly made his way out of his bedroom, his eyes getting cloudy and unfocused due to the smoke and tears and his lungs burning him as if he had breathed in toxic waste. Looking down the hallway, he saw the fire. There was fire everywhere and it was rapidly growing. The little boy's eye widened in fear. This was nothing like the small fireplace in the living room, it was the whole floor that was on fire._

_Down the hall, his mother and father came running in his direction. The little boy's tears stopped as he waited for his parents to save him. They had come back for him. However, they didn't stop to take him in their arms or take him out of the house, the two nobles ran right passed him with only a small glance his way._

_Those eyes were uncaring and unloving. They were as they had always been towards him. The little blond boy bit his lips as he thought about it clearly. His two noble parents had never cared, why would they start now? They came back from the room they had entered, both carrying everything they thought was valuable before sprinting as fast as they could out of the house. Sabo clutched his teddy bear harder as he started to run out of the house too. His legs were wobbly and his vision was seriously starting to fail him. He hated this house. It was so big and really hard to get out of in case of an emergency. He was panting heavily now and every breath was even more painful than the last one as the fire and smoke had decided to completely destroy his lungs._

_sabo lifted his eyes. In front of him, there was a fireman. He was coming towards him fast, making big alarmed and frantic gestures to him. Sabo frowned slightly, incapable of understanding what was happening before he turned around and saw a flaming pillar fall over him._

_Everything went black._

_He was lucky to have survived really, it was a miracle according to the doctors how he had avoided death. Of course, it was due to the fireman's effort that he hadn't died, but Sabo couldn't help believing it was faith._

_Why? Because when he fell unconscious, he dreamt of his death. There was no way he was going to die now since he was destined to die around thirteen years in the future, in the arms of his best friend he hadn't even met yet. The dream was short and didn't give away that much detail since it was only the first time he had seen it. Nevertheless, the blond newly psychic boy knew exactly what this dream was. He knew right away this was how he would die. After this, he had shortly seen himself laid down on the floor. It wasn't too long though. He regained consciousness for a few minutes only to fall back not long after. The next thing he remembered was waking up in a hospital bed, his mother and father nowhere to be seen._

_Honestly, he would've preferred if it had stayed that way, yet, they eventually reluctantly came to get him._

* * *

The doorbell rang. Luffy was the first one at the door, pretty excited to meet another medium besides Ace and Sabo, followed closely by Ace who wanted to greet his friend.

"Hi, pineapple!" Luffy said with a grin as he opened the door.

"I already like this kid." Luffy looked behind Marco to see a bloodied and wounded spirit smiling at him.

"What's your name?" Luffy said as he tilted his head to look directly at Thatch, surprising both him and Marco when the kid stayed calm even after seeing Thatch's appearance.

"I am Thatch." Luffy smiled and let them come in. Behind the psychic boy, Ace looked at his friend with a puzzled look. He knew that Marco could feel the spirit right behind him, but he didn't do anything about it. It was as if he knew him like he knew Sabo. He sighed.

"So, Marco, you have a stalker too." Ace said with a small chuckle.

"Yep."

"I will take offense of that comment." Said Sabo, Thatch and Kuina practically at the same time. Luffy just laughed and guided the two newcomers in the living room.

"So you are a medium too?" Luffy said. He almost looked like he had stars in his eyes. It hadn't been often that Luffy had been so openly excited and happy in his life, however, since he had gotten his friends, he had never been happier.

"Indeed."

"You can see that Thatch guy?" The young psychic pointed at the pompadoured haired guy.

"Yes."

He then pointed at Kuina and Sabo. "Can you see them too?"

"I can hear what they say and detect their presence."

Luffy pouted. "Bummer..." Ace sighed and tried to come back to the subject they were supposed to discuss. Zoro was still sitting silently in his seat, waiting for any useful information.

"Oh, yeah, the phases," Marco said in remembrance as he looked in Kuina's direction. He could clearly feel the difference in Kuina's soul compared to Sabo's or Thatch's. She had made the first step and there were no coming back from that. She wasn't going to turn anytime soon, but her protectiveness over the green-haired teen made her burn through the first phase quite fast.

"So, the first phase of-"

"Mind decay." Ace said.

"Decadence of the conscious." Sabo retorded.

"Turning."

"-the changing is the Phase 1: sole interest," Marco said as he looked at the three brothers with a look that told them to stop talking right now.

"In the first phase, the spirit won't do that much. The changes occurring in that phase are more around the spirit's priorities. The thoughts of that certain spirit will drift slowly from anything that used to interest him or her to a sole interest, the only thing that can be on his or her mind. Kuina is currently in that phase since she made the first step." They all nodded.

"Phase 2: Obsession

The object of the spirits sole interest will become an obsession. Depending on what the sole interest is, the spirit can become very protective of it or bent on having his or her revenge. This phase can be very long as it can be very short depending on the strength of the will of the spirit." Marco continued.

"Phase 3: Lapses

In the third phase, the spirit will begin to have lapses of time where they completely lose control. During those lapses, the spirit will highly be guided by his instinct and will be hard to communicate with." Kuina gulped. Ace's coworker was saying this in such a monotone voice, it sent shivers down her spine. Thinking of the lapses was scary.

"Phase 4: Madness

The lapses become longer and more violent in some cases. The spirit is often going to see things that aren't real, hallucinations of threats and other things like that until it is completely pushed into madness." This time it was Zoro who seemed nervous about this information. He had fought with Kuina a lot when they were younger. They would spar and have fun together but she had never been mean or intentionally hurt others. She had always been in perfect control and thinking she could lose it completely and start hallucinating and going insane made a pit in his stomach grow.

"After this phase, it becomes a poltergeist. The spirit will hardly be reachable by anyone at this point. It will mostly pass time by hurting anyone it can find."

"It still takes a while to pass through the different phases right? Kuina and Zoro don't really have to worry for now right?" Luffy said with hopeful eyes and Marco nodded. It was still not enough to ease any of their worries.

"It depends on what kind of spirit she is." Ace said with a thoughtful expression.

"Kind?" Zoro looked at the three mediums in the room, his eyes betraying his slight nervousness.

"You see, there are a few categories of spirits. Not all of them evolve through the phases or just act the same way." Luffy started as he stood from his seat. "You already know about the poltergeists, if only briefly. They are scary and dangerous if anything. You also have the lost souls. Those are spirits who don't know they are dead yet."

"Then, there are the wanderers." Ace continued. "Those are the spirits who will move around without getting attached to anything or just stay in one place. They usually do the same thing every day and always seem nostalgic of everything."

Luffy nodded. "Yeah... Like that Brook guy who plays violin in the cemetery at the cliff!"

Marco decided to continue. "Then you have the stalkers." Sabo Kuina and Thatch gave him a dirty look. "They follow around one certain person and usually are self-proclaimed guardian angels." The older blond still smiled affectionately at his spirit friend, despite his words. "You also have to watch out for vengeful spirits. They are the ones who turns the faster. They hold a grudge and usually won't rest before they are avenged. Those are the main categories... Now the question is... Is your spirit friend a stalker or a vengeful spirit?" Kuina took a sharp breath. Sabo, Thatch and Luffy turned to look at her to see the fear start to rise in her dark irises.

"Calm down a bit. Nothing is set in stone yet." Thatch said slowly.

"Except the fact that sooner or later, I'll turn into a homicidal psycho ghost." She shouted harshly. The atmosphere became tense and even Zoro could sense the heaviness of the air in the room.

"You won't. I'll deal with Zoro's problems in your stead and you will be able to leave in peace." The raven-haired psychic said as he sat back down.

"No, you won't!"

"It's my choice Sabo, not yours! You made mistakes, maybe I won't do the same thing!"

"We already know his dad is violent and Kuina could become dangerous to you too! What will happen after that? You are the only thing Ace has left!" The blond spirit shouted.

"I am right here you know, don't talk as if I am not in the room." Ace said in a low tone. "Sabo... We had our share of shady adventures... You ended up biting up more than you could chew and I wasn't there to help. Luffy has my support and you know I won't let him die. I would hope if he could have your support too."

Sabo looked up to his best friends, his vision blurred by thick tears. "So you think he should just go on and continue on this road until he dies too?" Zoro was sitting awkwardly in his chair, obviously knowing he was witnessing a heated argument, even if he was the only one who couldn't hear it entirely.

"I am not letting him die."

"You can't be sure-"

"I won't let him die either," Zoro said as he stood up. "I don't know what the big fuss is about exactly, I don't know everything about all this spirit nonsense, but Luffy is my friend and I won't let anything bad happen to him. Promise." The green-haired teen managed to look directly in Sabo's eyes even though he couldn't actually see him as he made his statement clear.

Thatch stood up "So, what I see here is three kids who are as close as brothers and would do anything for each other, a kid who is going through a hard time at home but won't be going down since he has people who will always stand by him and a ghost who is, slowly but surely, burning through the first phase. This is bound to be interesting. You are all good kids, I can tell right away..." He picked up the pencil Luffy was messing with earlier and pointed it at the said psychic. "But you should still listen to blondie over here." He said, gesturing to Sabo. "All of this mess could get you in trouble. They say psychics die young. Be the exception to that rule." The pompadoured-head spirit finished seriously.

"What's that?" Zoro and Ace stared at the flying pencil.

"How are you doing that?" Sabo asked curiously. He had never seen a ghost who could interact with objects or people that weren't passed the first step and burning quickly through the different phases to become a poltergeist and, obviously, Thatch wasn't a vengeful spirit or one of those crazy mindless intangible beasts.

"Practice, blondie. You could be able to do that too, one day." Thatch said with a grin as he tossed the pencil at him, which only managed to pass through him.

This almost managed to bring the said blond spirit to tears again. Almost. The thought of being able to interact with objects again... With Ace and Luffy, Feel their warmth instead of the cold and dreading feeling every time they passed through was almost too good to be true.

"Guess we should go now," Marco said as he looked at his watch.

"Yeah... Thanks for enlightening us and everything..." Ace said as he led his friend outside. As he stepped outside the front door, he gave said friend a frown.

"You didn't tell me you had a stalker spirit friend." He said accusingly to the blond medium.

The latter shrugged. "You never asked." Ace rolled his eyes and both friends parted ways.

* * *

"Do you mind if... Over the next few weeks, I crash at your place from time to time?" Zoro asked as he looked at his psychic friend.

"Of course I don't mind. Why not crash at Sanji's though?" Luffy responded as he tilted his head to the side.

Zoro ran a hand through his hair. "There are so many reasons I won't, but that is not up to me to tell you all of that. I'll be leaving then."

"Okay, good night then," Luffy said as he also led his friend to the door. "Don't forget your coat!" Luffy grinned as Zoro's coat flew from where it was hanging to land directly in the green-haired teen's face.

"I'll have to get used to that too." The latter said as he put the coat on with a sight.

"I am getting better at it too!" Luffy said with a happy grin. "Maybe one day I'll be able to make myself fly!"

Zoro chuckled. Luffy had such so many obstacles in his way. He had so much darkness in his life, however, he still managed to stay in the light. Zoro could only dream of being so carefree.

"Goodnight." On that thought, Zoro left the two brother's apartment, heading straight to the only place he shouldn't go back that night, or ever. Home.

Only bad things could happen on that night in that house as Zoro's father had been released from the hospital and his mother, seeing the short lapse when said man had been in the hospital as an escape route, had walked out of that house without a look back to her son or husband.

She had left her son alone to deal with a dangerous man in the foulest of moods.


	16. The little Wiccan shop

"Stop that."

Luffy giggled. Since he had told his friends about his powers, Ace wasn't the only one he could mess with. He would often tease them by making them float When they weren't anywhere near other people, he would steal their food once in a while. They ate on the roof of the school so no one bothered them, even if it was getting colder outside. Luffy simply heated the air around them and they were all wearing t-shirts outside even if December was nearing. He would also tease them in class some time and this was even funnier. He also would talk to them in the class by controlling their pencils in class and making them write what he wanted to tell them.

Another thing he would do was mess with the temperature in class and watch all his classmates get confused as hell. He and his friends thought it was funny, but they didn't do it all the time since it would make their teachers cranky and annoyed. All in all, in only a week, Luffy and his friends had become even closer. They all tried to come with new ways to mess around with Luffy's power and help him train and they always had fun doing it too.

It had been two weeks after the whole revelation-almost-suicide incident and the little group was sitting on the roof of the school with their lunch. Sabo was with Ace today and Kuina was standing pretty close to Zoro with an analytic gaze. She would always stay close to him and bizarrely avoid being anywhere to close of Luffy. Every movement anyone made was noted by the blue-haired girl, as it seemed. While they chatted, Usopp took his backpack and took three books out of it.

"I did a little bit of research at the library and on the Internet this weekend. Look at this. Those are books I found about psychics, ghosts, and other stuff. Would you be able to say which one's fake and which one is written by an actual psychic?"

Luffy read over the titles of each book. The first one was written by a medium he had seen on TV. He wasn't sure if the guy was an actual medium or if he was fake, but his first impression wasn't too good. He seemed like the type of guy who would lie to people just to get attention.

The second book was written by a man named Chinjao. The book was a bit more like a log book of his spiritual journey. He had been in taking a long journey in the mountains, been to different monasteries and did a lot of meditation, until one day he had become a medium. People would mistake the book as a work of fiction, but the details on spirits and everything surrounding that subject were too great and too accurate to have been made up. Even if it was a good book for his friends if they wanted to understand him more, it didn't give him new information. He had only skimmed through it but he knew it was the man was a real medium.

The third book was the most interesting one out of the three. It was written by a name named Basile Hawkins, a man from a local shop named Wiccan moonlight who sell all kinds of white magic items like incense, different herbs, and stones, pendulums, tarot cards, and etcetera. His book explained a lot of things about the soul and spirits in a way only a medium- no psychic- could.

"The first is a scam, the second is okay but not too instructional and the third one is a psychic for sure. We should go to that shop." Usopp's eyes widened. It hadn't even taken five minutes for the raven haired teen to get this conclusion.

"We can go after school, it's not too far from here," Nami suggested. She would pass it every day when walking back from school and even if the little didn't seem too weird or threatening, It had always been somewhat intriguing.

"Good. We'll go after school then." Luffy said in an excited tone. He had been excited to meet Marco again when he had discovered that the pineapple-haired man was a medium but, aside from Sabo, he had never seen another actual Psychic. This person was an adult too, he probably knew a lot more about this than him, Ace and Sabo did, which only managed to make him more curious and excited.

The book was also really educative. It explained everything about the different types of ghosts and the different phases for poltergeists but with much more details than what Marco had said. Still, it was nothing new for Luffy at this point.

* * *

Throughout the whole afternoon, Luffy was fidgeting in his chair as he sat through his teachers' lessons. He couldn't wait to go to the Wiccan shop. Vivi only giggled at the boy's antic while Nami sighed. Basically, the afternoon classes passed by pretty slowly for the excitable psychic and when the bell finally rang, they all had to run after him to keep up as he burst out of the school building.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted at his brother as he saw him coming around the corner with his blond stalker.

"Hey, Luffy! What are you doing running out of the school so fast? Were your teachers' lessons that boring?" The older brother replied teasingly. Behind the young psychic came Luffy's group of friends, some were panting with the sprint they just had to do.

"Nothing like that, we are going to a Wiccan shop!" Sabo and Ace's eyes widened a bit until a small smile made their way to their lips. "Wiccan moonlight? Yeah, Mr. Hawkins is a really good person." Sabo said.

_"Don't fight against your destiny and future and enjoy the present. Enjoy what you have now before you lose it."_

"You both met him before?" Luffy asked skeptically.

"We did. We have been to his shop a few times. Once, we were trying to get rid of a poltergeist at one of our friend's house so we had to get certain items and some knowledge on how to get rid of it. Mr. Hawkin was really helpful, even if he is always a bit too... enigmatic. He rarely tells you things directly, only when it's really important." Ace responded.

"Then what are we waiting for? Come with us!" Usopp said cheerfully. The others all grinned and Sabo bit his lips. "Kuina can't come though..." Luffy turned around to look at his blond spirit friend with a frown.

"Why?"

"Why what?" All the non-mediums asked curiously.

"She made the first step, Wiccan moonlight is warded completely against all types of... hum... evil spirits." Ace said awkwardly.

"Kuina isn't an evil spirit." Zoro had seemed almost offended as he said those words.

"I am not saying she is, but she won't be able to enter because it will be literally and physically impossible for her to do so. Mr. Hawkins took a lot of precautions after a certain incident he told us about and now all spirits who took the first step aren't welcomed."

"What happened?"

"Some angry ghost trashed his shop even if he wasn't a poltergeist so..."

"Yes, but I can still wait by the door, I'll stay close and wait for you guys," Kuina said nervously she took a step closer to Zoro and brushed her shoulder against the raven-haired psychic accidentally. She immediately shrieked away.

"What was that?" Sabo and Luffy said in unison, being the only two who could have seen the blue haired ghost's weird outburst.

Kuina took another step closer to Zoro and farther away from the psychic.

"I don't know... It started happening a little while ago. I... can't get close to you. At first, it would only pinch a little, but now it's like I will get burn if I so much as graze your arm." She said as she held her shoulder with her other hand.

"That's weird..." Luffy said, deep in thoughts. "It can't be a psychic power..."

"What can't? What is it? What is happening?" Usopp said curiously as he looked at Luffy with round and curious eyes.

"Kuina gets burnt a little if she gets too close to me or tries to touch me." The others frowned.

"Why can't it be a psychic power?" Sanji was starting to get a bit curious too.

"Well, I don't think this happened before and if spirits with bad intentions or poltergeists would burn if they got too close to me, I would have never gotten that scar." He pointed to the healed gash under his left eye.

"Maybe it's a new power you just unlocked!" Usopp said with stars in his eyes. The curly haired teen took his bag off his back and took Basile Hawkins' book and started searching anything that could give him a clue in it.

"I say we just get to the Wiccan shop now and ask this Mr. Hawkin instead of standing here, right guys?" Nami said with a smile. They all nodded, Kuina and Zoro a bit reluctantly and continued their way to Wiccan Moonlight.

Usopp was still plunged in the book, searching eagerly for any explanation. As much as the boy liked to lie, he was the kind of person who really enjoyed searching for the real explanation in those kinds of weird phenomenon. Everyone else was more or less excited to go to the shop and learn more about Luffy's and Ace's powers. However, the blond spirit and eldest medium were both happy and somewhat nervous to see Mr. Hawkins again though. They hadn't been to that shop since Sabo had died.

When they entered the shop, both wearing guilty and uncomfortable expressions, they hadn't expected to be warmly welcomed. Kuina stayed outside, waiting for everyone else.

"Ace! Sabo! Long time since I last saw you two. Was it three or four years? You surely have grown, well at least one of you two has." He added with a quick look to the bloodied blond who looked away guiltily. "And you must be Luffy, Ace's little brother, great to finally meet you. How are you boy?" Mr. Hawkins was speaking in a low voice and wore a serious expression.

"Ace told you about me?"

"No, Mr. Hawkins can... like... read people. He doesn't need to take your palm and everything, it's like he can read your soul." Ace said, trying to explain it the best he could. The only explanation he had gotten from the psychic had been really enigmatic and it even took Sabo a long time to understand the ability.

"Are you sure voodoo dolls count as white magic?" Sanji said as he looked at the ones on display sitting on the different shelves.

"Voodoo dolls are easy to use for bad intents, but they also are powerful for different healing spells and blessings. Some voodoo magic spells can help you change your looks and other things like that." The adult shop owner took a deck of tarot cards and started shifting them. "So? What is it you wanted to know?"

Sabo looked at the shop owner in disbelief. He had feared whatever the man would say to him, but the fact that he wasn't saying anything was even worse. Still, the blond spirit stayed quiet.

"First, there is this spirit who 'took the first step' apparently and now she can't get near Luffy unless she wants to get burned," Nami said as she pointed at the raven haired psychic. She wasn't going to wait to get answers.

Basile looked at the raven haired boy. "That's probably because of the locket around your neck." Luffy looked down at himself and saw that his locket was still tucked inside his shirt. He took it out and looked at it carefully.

"The carvings in the front protects you from the evil eye and evil forces. You also have amber and onyx on the back of it as gemstones." Luffy turned the locket over to look at the orange and black gems. "Amber is said to strengthen the aura, balances the Yin and Yang. It can also attract compassion. Amber also protects against evil influences and accidental injury. If you wear or carry black onyx it will help avert danger and misfortune. It attracts courage, strength, and spiritual wisdom. Onyx is said to dispel negative energy, defend against the Evil Eye, and control passionate desires. Furthermore, your locket is entirely made of pure silver and I am pretty sure it's attached to your soul, something around those lines. It's a powerful charm."

"... Luffy, who gave you that locket?" Ace had never really seen the locket before. He had maybe seen it shortly and had a few glances at it, but he had never asked about this particular accessory Luffy liked to wear. The boy often liked to wear some odd accessories and he would never really question it. For example, in the summer, the only hat he would wear was that old straw hat with a red ribbon. He didn't really know where Luffy had gotten it, but it wasn't rare to see the boy wearing it. Also, he would wear this weird dark decorated, jeweled armband around his left bicep. There were others, but he wouldn't go into details now.

"My... My father did..."

The emotions swirling around in his chest were very confusing and the questions on his mind were only left unanswered. He opened the locket and read the words engraved on it. The four words would usually leave him completely empty, drained of every positive thought he could ever have at that moment, but now, that locket...

It was protecting him.

For the last almost three years since Dragon had given the locket to him and left the house, he had never been attacked, hurt or even been approached by any evil intended spirit... Except maybe once... Because the locket had protected him. His father had protected him. Did he... actually care? Maybe deep down? But why would he tell him all those things if he did?

The young psychic clenched his hand around the locket. He felt like bursting but no tears would come. It was a hard thing to explain, his emotions and his confusion mixed up in a really weird way, almost making him dizzy.

"How could Dragon give you that?" Ace said with a tone that seemed dipped in poison. Luffy looked down at the floor with a blurry vision.

Ace wasn't the only one who felt angry at this discovery. Sabo clearly hated the man as much as Ace did and Zoro, who had been silent this whole time, had an almost murderous aura around him. Basile Hawkins was still shifting the tarot cards in his hands, his face stuck in a perfectly neutral expression.

"Maybe he cares-"

"Like hell he does!" Ace almost shouted. "He pretty much told you to go kill yourself two weeks ago!" At those words, Luffy's legs gave up on him. Zoro, however, caught him before he could hit the floor and helped him sit on a chair while Ace regained his composure.

"Fear is a strong emotion. When you are drowned in it, it is rare that you are certain of its origin. It is easier to shield ourselves away from anything painful than to try and find the real source."

Luffy frowned as he looked up at Mr. Hawkins. He was still mixing his tarot cards in his hands. "I am not scared of my father."

"That's not what he meant. I think he was saying that... your father... he is scared of something that... we don't know about. That something has to do with psychics and everything. If he knows about all those things, maybe he is scared for you and doesn't know how to deal with it except by getting away from you..." Sabo started.

"That doesn't make any sense. It still doesn't explain why he would ask him to basically... you know." Ace said with a sigh.

"Ace, your father... he was a psychic right?" The blond spirit was starting to understand the situation. Slowly, things started to make sense.

"Yes, he was. What's your point?"

"Well, Dragon was your godfather, meaning Dragon and Roger were close. What if something bad happened that completely changed Luffy's father? What if he was there when he died? You of all people know how that can mess someone up, you lashed out at Luffy for almost three months after I died before you started to move on." Ace looked down in shame as the blond spirit.

"Maybe I did... but... Roger died 13 years ago. He had a lot of time to move on."

"What are you guys saying?" Nami said in confusion. Ace had been talking to Sabo and the only ones who could keep up with the conversation were Luffy and Mr. Hawkins, but Luffy was still shaken up and Mr. Hawkins wasn't going to say anything. As Ace relayed the information they had said, Sabo continued to think.

"All I am saying is that it doesn't make sense. He never cared before, why would he do now? And also, when did he give it to you, Luffy?" Ace inquired as he looked at the young psychic with a slightly intrigued glare.

"Before he left the house 3 years ago."

"Let's not jump to conclusions now. Dragon isn't a good father, but he clearly wanted to protect Luffy at least a little if he gave the locket to him." Sanji said, frowning.

"We can't know for sure what is going on with Dragon if we don't know what happened between him and Ace's father." Usopp inquired.

Luffy stood and started to look around in the shop while the others discussed the matter. Mr. Hawkins came closer to him and looked down at him.

"You are troubled still, but not about your father. What is it?"

"Does the locket work all the time?"

"Yes, if it's around your neck and the chain isn't broken, you are safe from all evil spirits."

"That means that person wasn't a poltergeist? It was a person?"

_"Zehahahahahahaha!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, those were all the chapters that were already posted on fanfiction.net, from here my updates will be less frequent.   
> Thank you for reading my work!


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